Easter long weekend hosted a round 4 footy feast. By the sounds of things, the footy wasn’t the only feast most of the umpires had over the weekend, with plenty of family lunches and dinners attended.
Good Friday football was introduced for the first time in 2017. A crowd of 42,814 witnessed a cracking 2nd half and a thrilling finish. This has set a great platform for years to come as a big marquee match.
Good Friday is also a special day for the Royal Children’s hospital and the Good Friday Appeal. Ben, Katie and Goldie Ryan presented a cheque for $6000 from the AFLUA to the appeal. The presentation can be viewed on our Instagram account for this week’s addition of the 60 second whistler.
Brett Rosebury became the 9th field umpire of all time to reach 350 games when he took the field in Manuka to officiate the GWS vs Port Adelaide match. Brett was joined by Rob O’Gorman on the day who was officiating in his 50th AFL match.
Alistair Meldrum lived up to the famous song by Chumbawamba ‘I get knocked down’ on the weekend when he got pole axed from behind in the Brisbane V Richmond match. Just like the song, Alistair got back up again and completed his role. For those of you not familiar with the song, here is the link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egN8CjfQkxc
The Fiona Mc Burney match day experience participant, George Youssef was back for his second go at the trainer’s role in 3 years. His 84 year old mother Eugenie loved the day and had to remind George he needed to give someone else a go next week.
Finally, the Stawell Gift is an annual Easter festivity which attracts some extraordinary athletes. Some of those extraordinary athletes are some of our boundary umpires. Shane Thiele, Michael Marantelli and Ian Burrows all competed at the event over the weekend. Shane and Michael both ran in the 3200m where Shane came 7th and Michael beat him home by one tenth of a second to come 6th out of 38 runners. Buzz had his first competitive race since having his appendix removed. From all reports, he ran extremely well.
Written by: AFLUA Marketing and Communications Intern – Chris Gordon