AFL CEO, Gill McLachlan hit the nail on the head earlier this week when he mused, attendances are up, football is exciting and unpredictable, scoring in up, stoppages are down and all that makes headlines are a couple of umpiring decisions because journo’s don’t want to be seen talking the game up! How true is that.
FORMER Albury goal umpire Matt Maclure will officiate in Sunday’s clash between Hawthorn and Melbourne at the MCG.
Three hundred games by any measure is an amazing achievement, when Aaron Deckys crossed the boundary line last Saturday afternoon he became the first Queenslander to achieve that feat. It is even more meritorious when you consider that for Aaron’s first 200 games there was only a game in Queensland every second week. Aaron umpired his first AFL game in 1998, he becomes only the 11th boundary umpire in the history of VFL/AFL football to achieve that milestone. Well done Aaron. Aaron is an evergreen and he even suggests that he is fitter now than at any other stage of his career.
There are not many umpires who can claim they started their AFL umpiring career back in the 20th century but one proud boundary umpire from the sunshine state, who recently umpired his 300th AFL game, certainly can!
The AFL wishes to advise Round Seven of the 2017 Toyota AFL Premiership Season has been designated Community Umpiring Week with the aim to encourage people to get involved in umpiring Australian Football at the grassroots level.
Let me introduce you to William Robert Sutton. What? You don’t know who Billy Sutton is?
The ANZAC round of AFL was the second highest single round attendance in history. 391,980 fans turned out across the 9 games of round 5. Monday night’s ANZAC day eve clash between Richmond and Melbourne was the biggest crowd between the two sides in over 110 seasons. 85,657 packed the MCG which was also a big occasion for goal umpire Dylan Benwell, who was making his AFL debut. Dylan now holds the record for the highest attendance on debut. His first goal was a Jack Riewoldt snap from the boundary at the Richmond end of the MCG. Dylan said it was a special game and one he is still pinching himself about. Dylan was awarded heritage number 345.
Seventeen of Melbourne’s up-and-coming young field umpires will learn from some of the AFL’s best officiators in the 2017 Mates Program.
