The annual USAFL National Championships were recently held in Austin, Texas, and I was fortunate enough to be able to travel over for this fantastic event.
I was greeted temperatures nudging 100 degrees in the local scale, which made my first day exploring Austin a touch uncomfortable. That said, Austin is a great city, and I particularly enjoyed visiting the Capitol building in the heart of the city. I also had the chance to spend a day with a school friend who now lives just outside of Austin, and he was very generous in showing me around the townships of Wimberley and Gruene before stopping off for some Texas BBQ on the way home.
With limited opportunities to umpire throughout the year, many current umpires and several first-time umpires formed the eager group that assembled for an umpire clinic the day before the championships at the Onion Creek Sports Park, a massive soccer facility that had been converted into five Aussie Rules ovals. It was the first time that the USAFLUA had been able to run a clinic for all three umpiring disciplines and it was great to see everyone getting involved and preparing themselves for the hectic two days ahead!
Day 1 of the Championships saw the theme of near-100-degree weather continue, an ominous sign given that there would be games running on the hour on each of the five grounds from 8:00am to 6:00pm to accommodate the matches in five men’s and two women’s divisions. My primary role was to conduct umpire observations and provide some coaching with the view to helping the umpires either retail their existing level or achieve the next level of their accreditation. Despite best efforts, the heat definitely got the better of some umpires, so I slipped on a green shirt and made my USAFL debut late on Saturday afternoon! Saturday night was a great chance to bring the umpires together for the AGM and awards night, and the passion and enthusiasm for both umpiring and the game in general was infectious.
Day 2 provided no respite from the heat, but with the final round-robin games being played during the morning, it was still all-hands-on-deck to service all the games. I followed my USAFL field umpiring debut from the day before with my USAFL goal and boundary umpiring debuts to get the full experience! Finals ‘assignments’ were issued for the games on Sunday afternoon and each match was played with intensity and passion and in great spirit. Crowds were enthusiastic throughout the event, and it was great to see the number of people gathered around the main oval to watch the last game of the championships – the Men’s Division 1 Final – and the presentation ceremonies for each division that followed.
The standard of footy across the course of the championships was impressive, particularly given the ‘50% American’ rule that each team needed to abide by. With many of the umpires also playing for and/or coaching their local teams, it was obvious how much joy they got from being involved, particularly those expats who took every opportunity to get their ‘footy fix’!
The 2025 USAFL National Championships are being held in mid-October in Tucson, Arizona, and any AFL, State League, or Community umpire who would like to be involved would be welcomed with open arms! Information on the USAFL can be found at their website (https://usafl.com/) and if you’d like to express your interest in attending the 2025 championships, contact the USAFLUA President Jeff Persson at jeff.persson@usafl.com
Article by Matt Nicholls