Hi all, I was just wondering. I was watching the final of the commonwealth games last night (like i always do) of england vs malaysia. In the 3rd game, Jo played a serve which Eng left, but landed in. To Jo's horror, the call was called out an they lost the serve. Although the umpire was dead on line, he wasn't aloud to change the decision made by the line judge. Do you think, that umpires should be allowed to over rule a call just like in tennis? It may help with the dodgy line calling situation. Matt
With aid of electrical equipment yes, the umpire should be able to. Otherwise, no, because as long as it's people making the calls, there's bound to be mistakes
I don't think the "over ruling" should be allowed. Badminton is a very intensive game, too many interruption will just totally destroy the intensity and fun of the game. Imagine, every close call will be reviewed over and over, throughout all the argument, etc. Then, a 20 min game can be easily last for 1 hr or so. It will greatly favor many players, who have skill, but lack of stamina. Also, the most important thing, will everyone really be satisfied with the result even after review? No. Look at NFL these days, depend on the timing, position of camera, and angle of view, many calls are still "either way". Still, the final result will be made by a human being, which surely have mistakes some times. With the possibility of "corruption" on line judges, well, the umpire is a human being, god knows whether s/he has any favorite side or not. Therefore, if line judge can "protect" certain players, so as umpire.
Tough one but it would be nice given all the previous "favoured" calls by line judges but the problem is not with the line judging but rather with the use of biased line judges. In an ideal situation, the line judges will be neutral and unbiased in which case, having the umpire to overule is not necessary. The umpire already has so much to keep track of. Until the IBF can come up with neutral line judges, it might be necessary for the umpire to be allowed to overule the blantantly and obvious calls.
Interesting. I didn't know that umpire can't overrule a call by the line judge in badminton. What exactly is an umpire's job? Just keep the score?
It depends on the number of other judges, firstly yes it is to keep score However if there is no net judge, they'll also adjudicate on illegal serving and receiving (I wonder how many people know the rules about receiving? From watching a lot of grossly illegal net rushing, a lot of umpires at lower levels certainly don't ), illegal net play, and general court demeanor are the main things. However as stated before they can't overrule a line judge, best they can do is change them for another.
