Video umpire got Stringer goal wrong

THE AFL says Jake Stringer’s Gabba goal was actually a point after another botched goal review on the weekend.

Stringer’s kick was clearly touched by Brisbane’s Dayne Beams but, after a referral was overturned, was awarded a goal in a game decided by 22 points.

The AFL confirmed yesterday that the reviewer looked at the wrong players when ascertaining whether the ball was touched.

Instead of looking at Beams and whether his fingers were pushed back, he was watching the wrong player in the vision, likely Darcy Gardiner.

It is yet another ordinary goal umpiring review after the AFL ruled Jack Higgins’s recent goal was incorrectly overruled two weeks ago.

The field umpire initially called touched, with that decision supported by the goal umpire. When a field umpire judges a kick touched it immediately is referred to the video umpire.

AFL spokesman Patrick Keane yesterday confirmed the decision was wrong.

“The reviewer got it wrong. It was touched but the reviewer was looking at the wrong players, presumably [Darcy] Gardiner, not Beams,” Keane said.

“He just didn’t look at the correct decision and turned the correct decision into an incorrect one. It should have been a point.”

He said the field umpire followed the correct protocol in referring the decision to the third umpire.

“The umpires are told with a touch being in close proxim- ity, the sound can be a hand hitting the boot or the leg. So the decision to refer was a correct one. But where the error was is the reviewer wasn’t looking at the correct vision.”

The AFL has adjusted the position of goal-line cameras to lessen the chance of errors for decisions on the goal line. But it cannot help when a video referee does not correctly assess the vision in front of them.