The inner sanctum of any football environment is always a buzz with the focus mainly being on the players rooms and what happens there. This last week youth umpires from all over the country were exposed to what happens pre and post match in an AFL umpire environment.
Below is an account from one of these lucky few that got a chance to take this opportunity.
Arriving at the Southport ground I was excited to be there and couldn’t wait to go into the change rooms of the AFL umpires. As I met with David Silver and the other guy’s I didn’t know what to expect from the day. When we got down to the room’s we had a bit of a wait before meeting all the umpires and finding out how many years they had been umpiring for and why they took the path to become one.
To see how focused the umpires were and also how serious they were pre-game was great. To know just how hard they work at preparing for a game was incredible and also how well they are treated. Being in the umpire’s room to watch them stretching, getting reading, seeing the different ways that they focused was a good learning experience for me.
We were then able to listen into their pre match talks, where they talked about things that they need to focus on including the high tackle rule and the push in the back rule as well as the new advantage rule. To be involved in that was quite amazing, as I felt like it was me going out there myself. Given the chance to talk with them and to find out how they prepared and reacted before the game was very interesting.
After this we then got to walk onto the field with the umpires and although it was not the MCG it still felt pretty amazing to be walking out among them. When we got out to the centre, we watched them do their second pre match warm up. After a couple of minutes of watching the umpires do their warm up we head off to the side line to watch the rest of the game.
The game was a good contest between the Gold Coast Suns Football Club and the Sydney Swans Football Club with the umpires being in the right position all the time and making some fantastic decisions. It was just great to watch them in action.
After the game with the Gold Coast Suns going down by a large margin, we got the chance to head back to the umpires rooms and watch them doing their warm down stretching and post-match routines. After watching for a few minutes we left the rooms to let the umpires have their warm showers after running in the cold rain for half a game.
I do wish to thank David Silver and Simon Devine for this (hopefully not) once in a life time chance to study the preparations of these professional AFL umpires and watch them in action live.
Nat Smith
Last Modified on 08/10/2012 16:03