The comparison to other sports also makes a good argument for full time umpires. Cricket and Soccer are good examples. Cricket umpires are quite proficient and somehow make correct decisions with the ball moving 130 - 150 kph. International Soccer also employs full time referees and this level of professionalism is what we strive to achieve to become an international sport.
So the upside to all this, would be to have the governing body of umpires invest in sport sciences in the same way that football clubs do. This way umpires have the same support and body conditioning that players have, though injuries for umpires are quite rare.
Umpires would have more time studying games and decisions that may have gone the other way and decide what went wrong in the decision making process. This then allows umpires to look at their body positioning during matches and around the ball.
As fans of the game we are always going to be critical of a decision that doesn't go our way. In saying that, there are probably a couple of decisions that could have gone the way of the Tigers against the Saints that may have resulted in a win for the Tiges instead of a draw. The real question is, does that justify full time Umpires?
The flip side to the argument suggests that full time Umpires won't have much of an impact. A lot of people feel that the current system is fine and doesn't need to be tampered with, the umpires are only needed for weekends and the system is working. However, there could be other solutions if the AFL does not want to make umpires full time.
We as spectators are always shouting at the umps telling them to look at the screen (and other suggestions), an off field umpire who studies live video footage and advises the on field umpire on ambiguous decisions might be a consideration, if people feel the current system isn't good enough.
Rugby uses a video umpire and have managed to make that system work, so the question remains. Do we need full time umpires? Can we make other provisions to improve umpiring or are we already achieving the best we can out of our umpires? In reality it can be argued that the game is too fast paced for the umpire to be everywhere at once and mistakes will be made from time to time.
Personally I believe that, whatever we can do to improve our game is a good thing and in going forward as a sport on the international stage, we need to raise the professionalism across the board and that means full time umpires.
Players, Coaches, Clubs and the AFL itself are now full time, the game has improved. With this being said, umpire's can become full time and forge a career, this will attract a lot more people to do the job.
The professionalism that clubs and spectators now enjoy could be spread across the board if umpires are made full time as well. The use of video refereeing is another debate entirely, but giving umpires the resources to be at their best can only be a positive. That is my opinion and I would be really interested in hearing what everyone else thinks, positive or negative, please leave a comment.
