An invitation into the inner sanctum of the weekly AFL umpires review debunks a few myths surrounding the men who adjudicate the national game.
Life in footy’s firing line
read more
News
The numbers add up for veteran ump’s SECA life membership
Round 19 – Shorts
Twenty five weeks into a tough season that will go to the wire for teams fighting for a top 8 finish and our field umpires are dropping like flies. Heath Ryan has finally succumbed to a season ending Achilles injury following his first game back in round 18 for 8 weeks. The idea was to rest, recover and go again but the season was simply too long.
Stuart knows “Wenn” to retire
Evergreen field umpire, Stuart Wenn announced his retirement from the AFL umpiring panel effective from the end of the 2014 season at a meeting of his umpiring colleagues on Monday night.
Brett Rosebury reaches 300
Brett Rosebury will become the first West Australian born umpire to reach 300 AFL games this coming weekend in the North Melbourne v. Geelong match on Saturday. Brett becomes the 18th field umpire in VFL/AFL history to reach the milestone. It is a milestone that only the very best achieve. In fact only two of the 18 to achieve the mark have not umpired a VFL/AFL grand final. He is the youngest man to debut as an AFL field umpire, aged 20, in the game’s history.
Round 18 – Shorts
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 Goal Umpire – Mat Wilson checks out South West games
AFL South Australian based Goal Umpire, Mathew Wilson visited Western Australia over the weekend.
Rob makes 50 with a lot more to come
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.”
Round 17 – shorts
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.