There is no doubt that a drawn game of football tantalises every statistician’s taste buds. Our own, David Flegg has had a great year providing us will all sorts of material. So I thought that for completeness it was only fair that I share some of his absolute pearls with you.
The Collingwood v Adelaide match on Sunday was the 157th draw in VFL/AFL history. It was the seventh draw for goal umpire, Luke Walker and the sixth for field umpire, Simon Meredith.
Luke moves into first place for the goal umpire with the most draws and more interestingly it is the third time in his career he has had two draws in a season (2010 and 2011 were the other seasons). Luke Walker and Michael Craig are the third team to officiate in two draws, both this season. Previously, Andrew Ferrari and Walter Lindsay achieved this feat in 1919 and 1921. Clyde White and Alan Nicholson did the same in 1948 and 1952.
In field umpiring ranks, Jack Elder leads the way with 9 drawn games followed by Steve McBurney, Simon Meredith and Shaun Ryan now with 6 each. In total 139 field umpires have officiated in drawn games.
On the boundary, 205 umpires have officiated in drawn matches. Chris MacDonald leads the way with six, followed by Aaron Deckys, Jack Geggie, Chris Gordon, Leigh Patterson and Phil Stone officiating in five.
One hundred and sixty goal umpires have umpired in draws. Luke Walker now with seven leads the way followed by Craig Clarke and Mark Canning with six.
Of our current games record holders, David Dixon, 356 games, 3 draws. Darren Wilson, 405 games, 1 draw and Hayden Kennedy 495 games, 3 draws.
It just goes to prove, it’s all about the luck of the draw.