Jason Venkataya represented umpiring with distinction at the AFL opening of the Multi-cultural round. Jason was part of a panel interviewed by Jason Mifsud, AFL head of diversity. He outlined his families journey to Australia, his introduction to footy and why it was important for his connection to Australia’s culture. Jason also gave an insight into what umpiring meant to him.
AFL South Australian based Goal Umpire, Mathew Wilson visited Western Australia over the weekend.
Ask Rob Taylor what his best or most enjoyable game was and he fires right back without any ego “I haven’t had it yet!” Rob goes on to say, “there were plenty of times in my short career when I didn’t think I’d make it to 50.”
It was a case of “old home week” for a number of the AFL umpires last weekend when our Tassie boys went back to Blundstone Arena and a welcome home. Scott Jeffery hadn’t been back since 1998 when he travelled to Melbourne to pursue his dream of AFL footy. While Nick Foot hasn’t been gone that long (2013) I have no doubt he enjoyed the opportunity as well. Goal umpire, Mark Ensbey still lives in Hobart and so he got his first “home game” along with rookie field umpire who also lives in Hobart, Ben Lehner. In fact our only other 2014 Tasmanian listed umpire, Mitch Lefevre was an obvious omission until he was seen sunning himself in Cairns prior to the Western Bulldogs v Gold Coast Suns game.
Goal umpire, Courtney Lai has been quietly working in the background rehabilitating his knee that had to be reconstructed following that awful collision with Liam Picken in round two 2013.
While two of our senior umpires made solid comebacks on the weekend in the VFL, that was soured by a serious calf injury to our new Friday night specialist, Chris Kamolins. Chris was replaced at three-quarter time in the North Melbourne v. Hawthorn game by Matthew Leppard after tearing his calf late in the third. Channel Seven showed Chris’s complete frustration during the break when he threw his whistle into the ground after realising the extent of the injury. He could spend the next four weeks on the sidelines.
Ex-VFL umpire Ian Huntington became a quadriplegic almost a year ago in a freak accident while playing golf. The MCC are conducting a cocktail party for Ian on July 16 between 6pm-9pm in the Long Room. All of his colleagues are invited to attend this fundraising event.
Who was the last 21 year old with fifty games of AFL experience under his belt? Chris Simms maybe? Not sure really. One thing I do know is that this quietly spoken university student is passionate about a few things and one is certainly his footy.
Noel Egan was one of the few VFA umpires to successfully transfer to the VFL and carve out a career over an extended period. While the vast majority of those games were in the country he tasted much success in the city reaching VFL senior level in the first three years after moving leagues.