Attracting Europeans to
Australian Rules football hasn’t been a problem.
But finding umpires to
officiate the games hasn’t been as easy.
That’s why as part of
its push to strengthen football participation rates in the European markets, the
AFL is also focusing on making sure there are enough trained umpires to keep
matches under control.
AFL Britain umpires’
coordinator Shane Hill, speaking on the eve of the 2010 Euro Cup in Milan, said
there were certain challenges and opportunities unique to football in
Europe.
``There are certain
challenges and opportunities that present themselves that are unique to the
region,’’ Mr Hill said.
``Particularly as we
have a lot of ex-rugby and soccer players and refs playing and umpiring the
game, focus needs to be on safety as at home, paying attention to palm-offs and
slide tackles, concepts Australian players have grown up
with.
``But an interesting
side-effect of the players coming from a rugby background is the level of
respect shown to the umpires - something we are keen to grow as a culture,
moving away from the ingrained adversarial mentality against umpires in
Australia.’’
The Euro Cup in
Milan will
present another opportunity to spread the message of
umpiring.
"At the European
marquee events (including the European Full Format Championships and Euro
9-a-side Cup) we like to run umpires' workshops from a very practical
perspective, particularly focusing on Spirit of the Laws,’’ Mr Hill
said.
``We ran two very
successful workshops at the European Full Format Championships in July/August
where we emphasised the intention of the laws to reward the player making the
ball his/her prime objective, i.e. encouraging players to get the ball in hands
and give time to do something with it.’’
Melbourne umpire James Twining,
currently with the VFL development squad, will join the umpiring ranks in
Milan for a
unique perspective of the sport.
``I'm really excited to
see how the game is growing in Europe,'' he
said.
``Umpiring has taken me many places - but there aren't too many umpires
here in Melbourne that can say they have umpired a
European Cup.''
Euro Cup 2010
tournament director Philip Porublev the importance of having a number of
experienced umpires acting in a mentor role with our junior umpires at this
years tournament could not be understated.
The Euro Cup will be
held in Parabiago, Milan on October 2, with an expected 40 matches
over 2 fields simultaneously, and each match requiring three to four umpires.
An umpires’ workshop
will take place on Friday October 1st at 16.00-19.00 at the Parabiago Rugby
Clubhouse to assist umpires in preparing for the
event.
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James Twining will be travelling from Australia to the Euro Cup in his role as a senior umpire.
Name: James Twining
Age: 24
Lives: Melbourne Australia.
Umpiring
history:
Victorian Football League 2009-10.
Victorian Amateur Football
Association (VAFA) 2008, including D2 senior grand final.
East Gippsland
Football League coach 2007.
EGFL senior grand final 2003 and 2006.
Professional:
Journalist with the Hobson Bay Leader local newspaper in Melbourne.
Last Modified on 15/09/2010 16:42