It won’t go down on any stat sheet, but skycam was responsible for an interception at the MCG on Friday night in a rare moment that all four umpires missed.
During the second quarter of Collingwood’s showdown with the Swans, a bomb inside 50 from Sydney’s Errol Gulden struck the camera — and the yellow Sherrin dropped straight from the sky.
Many spectators noticed, with an audible groan coming from the stands — but the umpires didn’t with play allowed to continue.
A kick that was going well inside Collingwood’s 50 was effectively cut in half by the airborne camera, dropping just short of a diving Brayden Maynard.
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The moment was a topic of discussion during half time on Fox Footy, when Garry Lyon questioned what the rules are.
“What are we doing about this? And who is responsible for this?” Lyon said.
With tongue-in-cheek, he added: “In cricket we’ve got a rule when it hits the roof, but what are we doing when it hits the Flying Fox? Surely that’s got to be a 10-pointer?”
Jonathan Brown said he had no issues with the ball hitting the skycam, adding: “Just play on boys just to see who’s reacting and got their heads in the game.”
The Herald Sun’s Jon Ralph said that the AFL was satisfied with how play continued given no umpire noticed the interference.
Had they noticed, however, action would’ve needed to be taken, according to Ralph.
“The AFL actually changed their guidelines over summer given the skycam was to be used more at games,” he posted to X.
“The official rule is that if the umpires see the ball hit the skycam they will stop play and throw the ball up. No one saw it hit the camera tonight so play proceeded.
“The AFL (is) happy with how it played out … None of the four umpires saw it hit the skycam. Plenty of fans saw it hit skycam!”
Source Agencies
