I AM sure the EDFL community would have heard the news reports from last Sunday about an ugly incident that erupted during a junior final in the Western Region Football League (WRFL).
The news reports alleged that an umpire had to run from the field for his own protection from angry spectators after having been struck by a spectator at the conclusion of the match.
Based on the reports it appears that the root of the problem was the ugly parent syndrome.
These alleged actions towards the umpires and later towards opposition spectators are mindless acts of stupidity.
The actions of these individuals cause untold damage to the team that they support, the opposition team and the WRFL. But the ripple effect means that the EDFL is also blighted by what occurred, as is every other community football league across metropolitan Melbourne.
I am sure that the WRFL will handle this matter swiftly and will ensure that appropriate strong penalties are handed down, as will Victoria Police. Just because this incident occurred at a sporting ground, it doesn’t mean those involved will escape police prosecution.
But it should never have come to this in the first place.
People need to realise that the level of behaviour expected at a football game is the same as that which is expected at a shopping centre or any other public place. Having a white line present does not give anyone the right to abuse, strike or in any way cause harm to another person, whether that person be a player, umpire, official or spectator.
The EDFL recently had our own unsavoury incident to deal with where a player manhandled an umpire during a game. The game was immediately abandoned and reports laid against the player.
The tribunal handed down the heaviest of penalties, a life ban from playing or having any official involvement in the game. That is a major penalty to be imposed, but one which had to happen.
This decision was a statement to the players in the EDFL that no umpire is to be mistreated in any way – physically, abusive or otherwise.
It was pleasing to hear that the club involved also got on the front foot and immediately banned the player from the club as well as two teammates who tried to justify the player’s behaviour. That team was also voluntarily stood down for the remainder of the year by the club as a statement to its entire playing group about the expected behaviour that the club’s players must abide by.
Our umpires are sacrosanct and need to be treated accordingly and protected. Anyone attending games need to fully understand this fact, whether it be junior games or senior games, the home-and-away season or finals.
Every year the EDFL loses 40 per cent of our junior umpires, with the common denominator being poor spectator behaviour. People need to consider, what if the umpire was your son or daughter? How would you want them to be treated? The sooner the wider football public starts to look at our umpires in this manner the better, as, like any player, they are doing their best, they are learning their craft and they are performing to the best of their ability.
For those who can’t understand this, such as the alleged assailants at the WRFL junior Grand Final on Sunday, the sooner they leave our sport, the better.
Marc Turri, EDFL CEO
