THE AFL has dedicated May 4-6 as Community Umpiring Round.
The objective of this activity is to generate awareness and appreciation for the critical role that umpires play in Australian Rules football at all levels.
I’m proud to say that the EDFL is one of the nation’s biggest umpiring groups with nearly 500 registered umpires.
These umpires have a very supportive group of coaches, led by EDFL Umpiring & Development Manager, Rowan Sawers, who provides assistance and development to our field, boundary and goal umpires.
However, despite this very strong team behind them, around 180 umpires did not return to the EDFL in 2018 for a range of reasons.
This ratio of 35 per cent loss is consistent with the national average of umpires who walk away from the discipline.
Whilst moving away from the local area, changes in employment and returning to play football all contribute to our lost umpires - a significant number do not return due to the environment in which they umpire.
It is incumbent on the EDFL community - players, officials and supporters, to ensure we provide an appropriate environment for all umpires.
Due to great leadership and strong programs, we have been lucky in recent years that we have not had to ask clubs to provide field umpires for any senior or junior matches, and in an increasing number of games the EDFL have been able to provide boundary and goal umpires.
The more umpires we have involved in our game, the healthier our game will be.
We undertake a broad ranging program to attract, develop and retain umpires.
In addition to the main training base at Windy Hill, regional academies have been set up at St Bernard’s College (Essendon), Australian International Academy (Coburg), Delahey Reserve, John McMahon Reserve in Sunbury, Highgate No. 2 oval in Craigieburn, Cole Reserve in Pascoe Vale and at Jacana Reserve.
Listed below is a sample of the development provided to EDFL Umpires and the success this has brought:
- Six EDFL Umpires attended AFL training on Tuesday as part of their development
- Five EDFL Field Umpires are partaking in the Mates Program which will see them mentored by AFL Umpires
- EDFL Field, Boundary and Goal Umpires are involved in the AFL Victoria Rookie Umpires program which will assist in their development before they trial at the end of the 2018 season
- Three EDFL Field Umpires have been accepted by AFL Victoria for Season 2018. This is a progression step towards potential AFL promotion
Good luck for the weekend.
