West Australian boundary umpire, Sean Moylan debuted in his first AFL game this weekend in what turned out to be a pulsating game at Optus Stadium between WCE and Geelong. Optus Stadium will become a bigger fortress than Subiaco ever was. Our umpires who have experienced it first hand in the first three rounds say that the noise is amazing.
Seventeen years on and over 707,000 kilometres of travel between Perth and Melbourne, Dean Margetts umpired his 300th AFL game at the new Optus Stadium in Perth on Saturday night in the match between Fremantle and Essendon. Both Ross Lyon and John Worsfold congratulated Dean on his outstanding achievement prior to the game. Dean’s family and closest friends enjoyed the hospitality of the new stadium at a corporate function provided by the AFLUA in conjunction with the AFL to mark the occasion. (See our video interview with Dean on the website later this week.)
The AFL Umpires Association through the Jeff Crouch Foundation donated $6,500.00 to the Royal Children’s Hospital on Good Friday.
The AFLUA recently completed a visit to meet with our interstate umpires in Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Sydney. As part of the association’s engagement strategy, Peter Howe and Peter Kelly welcomed new umpires and provided a comprehensive induction overview of the association.
Eighty-eight year old Ross Raphael passed away after a brief illness. According to his life long friend, Ron Bailey, Ross who only turned 88 on Sunday was admitted to hospital four weeks ago and passed away peacefully in the early hours of Monday morning.
Congratulations to all of our colleagues who were appointed to the first AFL grand final in 2018. In particular it was great to see our second year AFL rookie John Howorth from the VFL get appointed to his first AFLW grand final. John was very pleased and simply saw it as another opportunity to test his skills in a high pressure final. Andrew Adair came from nowhere in his first season on the AFLW panel to not only win a place in the GF but also to replace Alex Whetton on the rookie panel for 2018. Andrew hails from Queensland. Both John and Andrew are also members of the ADP panel coached by Stuart Wenn. They were joined by female pathway umpire from Victoria, Annie Mirabile in her second season as an AFLW field umpire. It was also Annie’s first grand final.
If you’re looking for a new idea, especially in that “tech” field then you need to look no further than AFL field umpire, Chris Donlon.
Field umpires, Chris Donlon and Shaun Ryan were inducted as AFL Life Members at the AFL 2018 Season Launch at the Forum Theatre. Both umpires joined 8 other recipients, Steve Johnson, Jordan Lewis, Andrew Mackie, Rex Hunt, Eddie Betts, Kade Simpson and Michael Long.
Luke Farmer took his most promising steps yet towards kick starting his AFL career on the weekend in over 12 months when he stepped out in a WAFL reserves practice match on Saturday. Who should be there to lend his support and keep a watchful eye over proceedings, none other than newly appointed WAFL and Talent Umpire Manager, long time friend and confidant, Dean Margetts.