There’s never been a better time than now for community-level umpires aspiring to reach the heights of officiating state-level football in the Peter Jackson VFL and TAC Cup.
That’s the opinion of AFL Victoria State League Umpiring Manager Cameron Nash, who has overseen the introduction and development of community umpire ‘rookie squads’ since May 2014.
Nash, a former umpire himself, thinks the rookie squads have been a big factor in reducing the gap between umpiring at community level and state level.
The rookie squads comprise community-league umpires – field, boundary and goal –recommended to AFL Victoria by their local coaches as being on the path to graduating to state-level umpiring.
The field umpire rookie squad trains with the AFL Victoria Senior and Development Squads once a fortnight, while the boundary and goal umpire rookie squads train with their state-level counterparts once a month.
Nash and his colleagues also go out and observe the rookie-squad field umpires once or twice a year as they officiate in their own community leagues.
“The rookie squads have probably been the biggest success over the last few years in terms of narrowing the pathway between umpiring in community leagues and state leagues,” Nash said. “Before that, it was quite a big jump.
“The rookie squads give the umpires an understanding of what’s required at this level by training with us, and secondly, it gives us an idea of what talent is coming through and for us to be able to monitor that from a state-league perspective.”
Several umpires have given the caper a publicity boost in recent times and demonstrated that umpiring can become a legitimate career for those who are passionate about it.
The cause of female umpires has been furthered by the likes of Eleni Glouftsis and Kate Griffiths. Glouftsis made history earlier this year when she became the first female field umpire to officiate in an AFL match in the NAB Challenge clash between Carlton and Essendon. Griffiths, meanwhile, has become a regular goal umpire at VFL level.
Brent Wallace – the son of former AFL player and coach Terry Wallace – broke through for his first AFL match as a field umpire last year, while former AFL players Leigh Fisher and Jordan Bannister have also officiated at the elite level.
Former players are also putting their knowledge of the game to use as umpires at state level, benefitting from another recent AFL Victoria initiative.
“We developed our own player-to-umpire program last year,” Nash said.
“We had two participants who have both moved on to our Development Squad this year: Cameron Dore, who played in a premiership at Vermont, and Paul Rebeschini, who came through the Dandenong Stingrays, played at Frankston and then at Bonbeach before taking up umpiring.
“Their feel for the game and their discipline and drive to succeed certainly came across when they took up umpiring. They’re not just in it to give it a go – they’re in it to really be successful.”
Nash said the rookie squads and player-to-umpire program had made it easier than ever for aspiring state-level umpires to make the jump from community level – while the quality of those umpires coming through the pathway has also increased greatly.
“This is my third year in my role and I think the group of new umpires we’ve taken this year is probably the best I’ve seen come through,” Nash said.
“That’s probably due to things such as the coaching umpires are getting at local level now, but a lot of the umpires we took into our squads this year were involved in our rookie program last year.
“That just shows the program works.”
* Photo: Shane Goss (@licoricegallery)
Last Modified on 14/05/2016 10:47