AFL set to protect 'iconic' bump

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THE intervention is coming. Just as the bump was ushered to the museum doors to take up its place as a relic of Australian rules, the curators are instead preparing to recommission it.

Under the AFL's proposed Laws of the Game Charter, the bump is set to be enshrined as a "Key Characteristic" of the sport.

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It is listed to be retained and celebrated, and protected from trends that would threaten its prominence.

In the draft document, privately circulated this week, the bump is identified as one of five pillars of the code, with contested possessions, contested marks, ruck contests and tackling.

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To live that pledge will require AFL action to lift the draconian crackdown on the bump and correct the overreach of a well-intentioned reform.

The absurdity of the judicial system's handling of the bump was capped this week with a two-week suspension for Paul Chapman and one-match ban for Ted Richards, lessened only by the reluctant acceptance of plea bargains.

It emphasised how far the zealotry surrounding the bump has been allowed to stray.

In the 2009 pre-season, Collingwood captain Nick Maxwell ironed out Patrick McGinnity. In the traditional sense it was a classical hip and shoulder, but the Eagle's jaw was broken.

Reprieve ... Ted Richards lays a bump on Levi Casboult. Source: Supplied

The initial four-week suspension was overturned on appeal. But the lawmakers quite rightly determined such contact could no longer be deemed legal.

The romantic notion of the shirt-front applied with lethal force was curbed for the modern context outlawing violence.

It took some bedding in against raging and vital ­debate. The convention, though, was sound. If a player chose to bump and caused injury, he would be held culpable.

That guiding principle has been lost through the course of this season, with one shining exception.

When Eddie Betts broke the jaw of St Kilda youngster Nathan Wright in a shepherd gone wrong, the three-match suspension was the textbook case and accepted without a murmur.

Suspension ... Paul Chapman hits Robbie Gray. Source: Supplied

For the rest, it's been a game of Bump Roulette.

An unnecessary loophole was invented to exempt head clashes. It cleared Lindsay Thomas of knocking out Ben Reid, but was considered too loopy to exonerate Hamish Hartlett when his victim, Gold Coast's Seb Tape, had to be driven from the field on the medicart.

The most violent bump of the year, executed by a charging Jeremy Cameron, ended the season of Bulldog Jason Johannisen but was given the all-clear as the ­Giant was adjudged to have had no alternative when contesting the ball.

Meanwhile, minor collisions with no consequences identified in medical reports were returned by the match review panel with suspensions attached.

When Geelong took James Kelly's rough conduct case for flattening Brendon Goddard to the tribunal, the prosecution introduced the notion of the "potential to cause injury".

To cap a convoluted picture, the 50 shades of grey between negligent and reckless were reduced to just one factor — whether a player left the ground or not.

In May that was of no significance when Hawk Taylor Duryea skittled Ben McGlynn. By this month it was the gravest sin Chapman could have committed.

The nuance of the Richards incident was glibly ­dismissed. It was perfectly reasonable for the defender to bump Levi Casboult. His duty of care was to not injure the Blue. He fulfilled that obligation. The fact he made high contact should have resulted in a free kick.

What has been lost in the faux justifications is the threshold requiring forceful contact to the head to constitute a reportable offence.

The bump has been ­demonised beyond what would ever be considered reasonable with the tackle, where high contact is routine and often forceful.

If the bump is to be valued as a key characteristic of the game, it is the duty of the league's football operations boss Mark Evans to recalibrate attitudes and interpretation.

Evans is the author of the cleverly conceived Charter. But it's no good enshrining the virtue of the bump if the participants have no reason to believe they are allowed to implement it.

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