AFL has always been a big part of my life.
Growing up on a farm in a small country community a football was never far away. Whether it was kicking with my Dad or my brothers; or playing for my primary school during the 1960s; or later on for my high school and then teacher’s college in the 1970s, there was always a game to play somewhere.
When I got married and moved to Sydney in the late 70s, to teach, I still was playing footy and I also took over as coach.
When my children came along they wanted to get involved in a sport, so naturally they were steered towards AFL. It didn’t take long for me to get involved in training. I quickly became a coach and continued to do that for many years. I was elected president of the junior club which grew to be the biggest club in Sydney.
Soon it became very apparent that we needed more fields and more umpires to run our game successfully. In negotiating with councils, other sporting bodies and the AFL we managed to get more grounds. However, umpiring was a growing problem. I started umpiring junior games. I started coaching young umpires to enable the code to have enough umpires to run the games. It didn’t take long before I was asked to umpire senior footy.
Nearly 30 years have gone by and I am still umpiring a senior game on a Saturday and two junior games on a Sunday. I received my umpiring Level One accreditation in 1989 and I have held a Level Two accreditation for coaching.
As a teacher, I am able to be part of the AFL Schools Ambassador program, where I attend meetings with the AFL and Swans to plan the future direction of our great game. I run the Ryde Zone AFL PSSA, where 300 girls and boys from many schools in the area play Aussie Rules every Friday during the winter months. I am also the Sydney North PSSA coach where I take a team away each year to play at the state carnival. It’s a great pathway for young players.
I am very involved in a game that I have been passionate about all my life and I think it is very important to put back time and effort into a game that has given me a lot of enjoyment and pleasure.
Last Modified on 01/05/2013 17:39
