Being an AFL umpire is not your average every day job. Many attributes needed by an athlete to compete in a sport are similar to those of an umpire.
The life of an AFL Umpire
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News
EJ Whitten match – a game for legends
Over 25,000 people attended the 2014 EJ Whitten legends match at Etihad Stadium on July 1.
Round 15 – shorts
Justin Schmitt qualified for AFL life membership when he umpired the Hawthorn v. Collingwood match in round 14. Justin has umpired 271 home and away games plus practice matches and overseas exhibition matches bringing his total to 300. Congratulations Justin.
A very patient 50 games
Who am I?
AFL Umpire Simon Meredith on the mend after major health scare
Simon Meredith felt fine, when he flew to Sydney two weeks ago to umpire the Swans’ game against Port Adelaide. He slept well, ate breakfast, watched some soccer on television, headed to the ground and warmed up well.
100 games for a quiet South Australian
School holidays mean a lot to our teaching colleagues, they can simply pack up and head home. What makes these holidays especially sweet for boundary umpire Shane Thiele is that he gets to umpire his 100th game in his old home state. “The SA guys have bent over backwards to help me achieve the milestone in SA and to do it in a showdown is even better,” said an excited Shane today when we called. Did we interrupt anything important? “No I was just watching Fox Sports News, I’m already home and kicking back.”
My memorable experience at training
On Wednesday 25th of June a group of 10 field umpires gathered at Visy Park, to undertake their biweekly training session, commencing at 2pm. Due to the rain the previous day, ground one was quite soft making the field more difficult to train on.
No science in right time, right place
Queensland boundary umpire, Nick Wade achieves his 50 game milestone this weekend when Brisbane plays North Melbourne at the Gabba.
A first game with a difference
When first gamer Robert Whitehead walked onto the ground at Metricon Stadium last Saturday evening he allowed himself a look back up into the crowd to see his sister. It was she after all that introduced him to AFL football and goal umpiring. They even umpired community footy together in Queensland. They are each other’s biggest fans.