SANFL Umpiring Update – April

The inaugural AFL Gather Round held in South Australia provided countless opportunities for football lovers to be close to the action.

A key component of the festivities across the weekend were the varying opportunities afforded to both junior and senior umpires from leagues across the state.

Attendees were able to soak up the excitement of the AFL match day environment, along with gaining valuable education opportunities from AFL coaches & managers that will be a huge benefit moving forward.

Different opportunities provided to our community umpires included six junior umpires per game being able to meet, walk onto the ground and participate in warm-ups alongside AFL umpires in front of electric crowds across all venues.

There is no doubt this has ignited plenty of passion within our junior umpires to aspire to experience every week as a SANFL or AFL umpire.

Alongside this, an AFL umpires’ meet-and-greet function was held, where 100 junior umpires and their parents met and heard about experiences from AFL umpires of all disciplines.

The AFL umpires were very generous with their time as they then mingled with our umpires to discuss how they progressed from community umpiring through to the elite level.

Coach education was another key focus, with 12 coaches lucky enough to sit in the AFL Umpires coaches box for the second half of each game.

Here, they were afforded an invaluable experience of how an AFL Umpires coach operates on match-day.

A further 66 umpire coaches were invited to an ‘Umpire Coaching Masterclass’ by AFL Umpires Coaching, Performance & Innovation Manager – Damien Farrow.

Damien provided practical knowledge on how Community Football Leagues can design training programs that engage, develop and challenge umpiring skills.

An AFLW female talent day was held at Thebarton Oval, with all female umpires across the state invited to attend.

As many as 25 umpires were educated through sessions on performance psychology and physical performance, followed by discipline-specific coaching and skills sessions conducted by AFL and AFLW Umpires.

The SANFL umpiring team is seeking to enhance these opportunities across the next three years of AFL Gather Round with more engagement opportunities provided to our umpires, along with promotional activities designed to attract more umpires at all levels.