According to Sydney Premiership coach Paul Roos, his team felt that Andew Demetriou’s “ugly” football remarks from the 2005 season had an impact on the umpires.
During the 2005 season, Demetriou claimed that Sydney, the eventual premiers, played ugly football, which some media commentators had called “ugly.”
After his shocking anti-Swans remarks, Roos says he was shocked that no one from AFL House spoke up to hold the former AFL CEO “accountable.”
Roos stated that the Swans were shocked that an AFL player would openly make such statements about their team on the Herald Sun’s Sacked podcast.
It simply seemed like an extremely strange remark. On Sacked, Roos stated, “At the time, we were the only team in Sydney.”
“I was shocked that no one in the AFL held him responsible. “Can you imagine the Coca-Cola CEO saying, don’t drink Coca-Cola in New South Wales?” is my immediate answer. Have some Pepsi?
Shortly after he said it, I recall appearing on a major sports program where the host genuinely asked, “Roosy, what does he mean by ugly football?” Due to the fact that it is a rugby league town, it is a physically demanding community that values toughness.
According to Roos, his team used it as inspiration during their premiership season, which ended the drought.
Did we occasionally use it as inspiration? Indeed, we did. Did we think the AFL was against us, too? Yes, there is no doubt that we did, most likely at times. The AFL CEO’s statement was simply quite strange.
We simply knew that we were not playing well. We were aware of our abilities. However, it was a somewhat strange period of time.
According to Roos, the club believed that Demetriou’s remarks altered the way the game was officiated.
“In general, we believed that our play affected the umpires,” Roos stated.
And that remark was most likely a contributing factor. We did think we were umpired differently at times. It was fascinating. Our assistant coach arrived in 2006 or 2007 following our Premiership victory, and while conducting the review, he made an intriguing remark: “Guys, it’s funny.” I genuinely know that you are umpired differently now that I’m here.
“I don’t believe it was deliberate. I don’t mean to be critical of the umpires, but they are human. We want the ball moving, you know. We desire objectives.
“The players know when a free kick is paid and not paid because they are on the ground, and I’m not saying it was deliberate, but that’s how they felt.”
Although Roos acknowledged having a “bit of a blow up” with former AFL umpires manager Jeff Gieschen during the 2005 finals series, he also talked about his “fantastic” interactions with the umpires while he was a coach.
This is not a critique of the umpires in any way, shape, or form. Aside from that brief incident with Giesch, I had great contact with the umpires,” he remarked.
“I can’t say enough good things about them. However, you must always defend your land.
It’s a difficult job. They read the paper, they understand what’s happening, and they have a really difficult job. The umpires are human, yet they are completely unbiased.
