Welcome to our new rookie field umpire Andrew Adair who was appointed following Alex Whetton’s promotion to the AFL list in February.
Andrew began his career as an umpire in 2009 whilst playing football, to gain another perspective on the game and make a bit of cash on the side. Upon realising he was a better umpire than player, Andrew gave playing away to focus on his umpiring career.
Andrew’s career started as a club umpire with the Aspley Hornets in 2009. In 2010, he became a AFL Brisbane Juniors umpire where he won the Coaches Award for best first year umpire and got the chance to umpire the Auskick game at half time during the drawn 2010 AFL Grand Final at the MCG.
In 2014, Andrew was appointed as a AFLQ Community umpire before being promoted to become a NEAFL umpire in 2015. In 2017, he umpired his first NEAFL final and was emergency for the NEAFL Grand Final. He also umpired the Under 18 curtain-raiser to the 2017 AFL Grand Final on the MCG, a career highlight to date.
His advice to upcoming umpires is to listen to your coaches and not brush off anything they say. “There’s a reason they’re in the position they are, and you need to listen to and implement their feedback as much as you can. As soon as they find something in your game that you need to work on, attack that weakness and find a way to turn it into a strength.”
The most influential person on Andrew’s career to date has been James Waldorff in his role as assistant coach of the AFLQ Umpire Academy, which paved the way to his first senior QAFL game in 2014. “I’ve learnt a lot from him during my time at the Academy and he was a senior NEAFL umpire when l got on the NEAFL list in 2015. I’ve run a lot of games with him in the last three years and got the chance to run my first NEAFL final with him last year.”
Matt Stevic is Andrew’s most admired umpire. “As l’ve started to focus on senior umpires and watching them during games, Matt is an absolute standout. His umpiring CV over the last couple of years speaks for itself.”
Andrew is a full-time student at the University of Queensland where he is studying a dual degree in Commerce/Business, triple majoring in Finance, Accounting and Marketing. He also works part-time at a cinema in Newmarket, Brisbane. Andrew’s interests include most sports and movies where he prides himself on knowing upcoming movies, release dates and information about older movies. He admits it’s a bit of an unhealthy obsession!
The AFLUA welcomes Andrew and wishes him all the best for the year ahead.
Article written by : AFLUA Marketing and Communications Coordinator – Peter Kelly