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Round 6 – Shorts
Tasmanian based goal umpire, Mark Ensbey umpired his first AFL game yesterday when he lined up in the Western Bulldogs v Adelaide match, becoming the 337th goal umpire to umpire an VFL/AFL match.
A good decision: Steve McBurney mentors next batch of Southern Football League umpires
Please click here to view an article from The Leader newspaper.
The quiet man stands the test of time
Elite sportsmen and women are driven by many factors. They are all high achievers hungry for sustained success, to prove that their first victory or moment was not a fluke. Some like David Dixon are also driven by a fear of failure.
Round 5 – Shorts
Here is a quirky one to start this weeks observations. Did Ben Ryan not hear the call from Luke Hodge yesterday which meant that the coin had to be tossed again or was it that the coin tosser used a “lucky coin” with two heads? Either way there appears to be a strange phenomenon these days with the coin needing to be tossed for a second time, there was the one time last season when captains had to pick the hand that held the whistle, there was even a “paper rock scissors” game when nobody had a coin a few years ago. I noted with interest that Bindi and Robert Irwin from Australia Zoo tossed the coin last Thursday night in the Brisbane v Richmond game.
Royal Children’s Hospital Appeal
The AFLUA through the Jeff Crouch Foundation donated $5445 to the Children’s Hospital appeal on Good Friday. The foundation was established by the association as a remark of respect to life member, Jeff Crouch who was the Good Friday Royal Children’s Hospital Appeal Director for 20 years. Jeff umpired 186 games between 1961 and 1970. He umpired 15 finals including 5 grand finals. Jeff went on to coach the VFL umpires after he retired from umpiring. He was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996. Jeff was Victoria’s Father of the Year in 1989. He passed away in 1994.
Life Member, Laurie Foley passes away
Laurie, passed away on Good Friday aged 80 after a brief illness. Laurie began his umpiring as a field umpire with the VFL reserve grade competition in 1954. He joined the VFL senior panel in 1957 until his retirement in 1966. Laurie was association treasurer in 1966 and was made a life member in 1967. On his retirement from the VFL he umpired in the Eastern Suburban Churches competition from 1967 until 1970 before heading to the VAFA in 1972. Laurie umpired 157 VCFL games.
After eight seasons, Chris reaches 150 games
It has been almost a decade of umpiring AFL footy, but upon reflection, Chris states, “it has gone pretty quick.”
The rocket scientist reaches 100
Early days in field umpire, Rob Findlay’s career there was confusion among the group about just what his occupation was. That’s easy said Giesch (former umpires’ manager Jeff Gieschen) he’s a “rocket scientist,” and it has stuck!