Umpiring concerns

[S Demon]

Ive just started thinking about umpiring, What actually is the pay throughout the grades?

Can't get a kick mate?

Nah, good on you. If we had more umpires that have actually played the game rather than people who enjoy the power trip of blowing a whistle for 2hrs on a saturday, I reckon we'd have a lot less complaints.

Maybe the SAAFL needs to invest some time in finding out which players retire each year or stop playing because their bodies can't handle the rigours of footy and approcah these guys to become umpires. They may already do it, just a thought.

And perhaps blokes coming back through injury who aren't quite ready yet (but can still run) should have a go at it - it's harder than you think. I certainly have a lot more time for umpires and don't question so many decisions after doing it a couple of years ago when i was injured. You really can't see everything all the time!!

No Mercy, you seem to love the umpires. Ever thought of having a go at it yourself?

[heater31]

I think the big turn off for most blokes looking to become umpires after the crowd abuse is the ridiculous fitness standards that are imposed on them. IIRC the highest level you can get without training is D4 or 5 if you want to go higher you must attend training and run endless laps of Thebby Oval and positional drills that would be boring as bat turds


SANFL umpires would do similar amounts of fitness work to the AFL listed blokes and get 1/4 of the pay much like the players

[locky801]

I think the big turn off for most blokes looking to become umpires after the crowd abuse is the ridiculous fitness standards that are imposed on them. IIRC the highest level you can get without training is D4 or 5 if you want to go higher you must attend training and run endless laps of Thebby Oval and positional drills that would be boring as bat turds


SANFL umpires would do similar amounts of fitness work to the AFL listed blokes and get 1/4 of the pay much like the players

The training must be working well, most even in Div 1 dont move much further than the edge of the centre square that i have seen of late

[Jabber]

I think the big turn off for most blokes looking to become umpires after the crowd abuse is the ridiculous fitness standards that are imposed on them. IIRC the highest level you can get without training is D4 or 5 if you want to go higher you must attend training and run endless laps of Thebby Oval and positional drills that would be boring as bat turds


SANFL umpires would do similar amounts of fitness work to the AFL listed blokes and get 1/4 of the pay much like the players

I must admit the training was not 1 bit fun. Coming from years and years of training with footies, you find yourself training on a football oval without footballs and just running your guts out. It seems wrong, and weird, when you've been around the footballs for so long!

I found a lot of plastic excuses not to train! Perhaps training needs to be revamped so its more like football training, maybe with some ball work, because then I wouldnt have even realised i was running!

I like the idea of ringing up the recently retired footballers.

[Lightning McQueen]

I think the big turn off for most blokes looking to become umpires after the crowd abuse is the ridiculous fitness standards that are imposed on them. IIRC the highest level you can get without training is D4 or 5 if you want to go higher you must attend training and run endless laps of Thebby Oval and positional drills that would be boring as bat turds


SANFL umpires would do similar amounts of fitness work to the AFL listed blokes and get 1/4 of the pay much like the players

Funny you mention that, a few weeks ago I had a centre ball up, the ball got tapped straight down the followers throat who kicked it immediately to the forward pocket with a strong breeze. There was a marking contest where I called play on and the forward appealled for a free kick, there was nothing obvious and a scrimmage occured so I called for a ball up.
While the forward was remonstrating slightly a spectator 25 metres away from the boundary line yells out "If you could keep up with the play you'd have a better idea you moron"
I had to laugh, if I had a 500cc motorcycle I wouldn't have been able to make the best positioning for the contest, you're damned if you do, damned if you don't, I never "guess" what I think has happened, if I don't see it, I can't pay it.

[BenchedEagle]

Ive just started thinking about umpiring, What actually is the pay throughout the grades?

Can't get a kick mate?

haha nah i can still get a kick, just the ol body cant function on sundays after games. At 30 years old im playing mixed Netball, Basketball 2x a week plus training and games on Saturdays, time to slow down. And when uv got a very very active nearly 7 yo daughter, time to put her 1st and be fit enough to give more quality time to her and her sports on sundays.

[X Runna]

Not a concern....in fact - quite the opposite.

Bartley Terrace yesterday, not a great day for Para Hills, but the one real positive was the fantastic performances by the 2 Academy umpires, one of them being a young lady.

Quite seriously, the best umpring performance I have seen in MANY years involvement in the SAAFL, both individually and as a pairing. Both these umpires will go a long way, don't be surprised if you see at least the young lady make a meteoriic rise in the umpring ranks.

[NO-MERCY]

Not a concern....in fact - quite the opposite.

Bartley Terrace yesterday, not a great day for Para Hills, but the one real positive was the fantastic performances by the 2 Academy umpires, one of them being a young lady.

Quite seriously, the best umpring peformance I have seen in MANY years involvement in the SAAFL, both individually and as a pairing. Both these umpires will go a long way, don't be surprised if you see at least the young lady make a meteoriic rise in the umpring ranks.

The Seaton v Flinders Pk game was umpires by a young lass yesterday & i must say i was impressed with her performance.
She outdone her male companion on the day by far.

[Jimmy_041]

Nadia DeBellis - We had her a few times last year including the Grand Final & even though we lost it, everyone made similar comments

We had Dave Johnson yesterday - he's one of the very best in SAAFL

[Tony Clifton]

I must admit the training was not 1 bit fun. Coming from years and years of training with footies, you find yourself training on a football oval without footballs and just running your guts out. It seems wrong, and weird, when you've been around the footballs for so long!

I found a lot of plastic excuses not to train! Perhaps training needs to be revamped so its more like football training, maybe with some ball work, because then I wouldnt have even realised i was running!

I like the idea of ringing up the recently retired footballers.

Why wouldn't the umpires train at football clubs while the players train?

I don't know how many umpires there are but they could spread themselves around the various clubs in small groups, officiate any competitive/semi competitive drills when they are done and do their fitness stuff at the other times. Could also have a kick and a catch and some fun.

[RedMagpie]

Should look at poaching some or some one from the better ran umpiring leagues BL&G. M.Herman very knowledgeable man and a good umpire to go with, but is this Leauge to hesitant to change?

[X Runna]

Not a concern....in fact - quite the opposite.

Bartley Terrace yesterday, not a great day for Para Hills, but the one real positive was the fantastic performances by the 2 Academy umpires, one of them being a young lady.

Quite seriously, the best umpring performance I have seen in MANY years involvement in the SAAFL, both individually and as a pairing. Both these umpires will go a long way, don't be surprised if you see at least the young lady make a meteoriic rise in the umpring ranks.

Division 1 game for Elini this week - how good is that !!

[panther 010]

There seems to be a major problem with umpiring at the moment.
For the least few years the SANFL supplied and paid for an umpires coach.
This year they reallocated the money elsewhere and we had to find our own who is only 0.3 time wise compared to fulltime as previous years.

On average there is up to 25 field umpires unavaliable every weekend.

Two weeks ago a boundary failed to show up to our U18 match at home which resulted in our Team Manager who is in his mid to late 30's having to run the boundary. As a result he collapsed and suffered a slight possible heart attack. Spoke with the gentlemen concerned after the game and during the week and he is okay.

Last Saturday no boundary umpires showed up for the D1 Reserves game which left the club having to find replacements 10 minutes before the game started. Previously the clubs used to supply their own boundary & goal umpires for this grade knowing that they had people to cover the job on the day.

Field umpires in B grade games are also cause of concern with some doing double duty at other grounds later and wanting B grade games to start at 12.00 instead of 12.15 so they can get to the A Grade games and wanting all team sheets corrected before the game which is normally not done until after the game.

The age of umpires is a worry as well as we don't seem to be blooding any new ones. The combined age to two field umpires in one of our recent A Grade games was 100+ and the B Grade game 130+

Maybe this should be a pririoty for the CEO or are other things taking a higher priority at the moment?

[panther 010]

Having a part time umpires coach is what the saafl wanted. on the umps I know 3 or 4 umpires due to my work and they say they have used 3 new umps to div one and this week they have the first female umpire to div one. I have seen about half a dozen games and the umpiring has been better than other years. for the people who say to pay more to atract new umpires remember the clubs pay the umps and would not want to pay extra.

[FOURTH ESTATE]

Having a part time umpires coach is what the saafl wanted. on the umps I know 3 or 4 umpires due to my work and they say they have used 3 new umps to div one and this week they have the first female umpire to div one. I have seen about half a dozen games and the umpiring has been better than other years. for the people who say to pay more to atract new umpires remember the clubs pay the umps and would not want to pay extra.

Since when did they want a part time coach, News to all of us when this happened and if they did who made that decision?????

[Slots It Through]

Nadia DeBellis - We had her a few times last year including the Grand Final & even though we lost it, everyone made similar comments

We had Dave Johnson yesterday - he's one of the very best in SAAFL

I agree Dave Johnson has been one of the better umpires over the last few years, which makes it very surprising he doesnt get too many Div 2 games.... Gets alot of Div 4 or 5 games.

[Lightning McQueen]

I think the big turn off for most blokes looking to become umpires after the crowd abuse is the ridiculous fitness standards that are imposed on them. IIRC the highest level you can get without training is D4 or 5 if you want to go higher you must attend training and run endless laps of Thebby Oval and positional drills that would be boring as bat turds


SANFL umpires would do similar amounts of fitness work to the AFL listed blokes and get 1/4 of the pay much like the players

Speaking to a bloke on the weekend that's been doing div's 5 & 6, he's required to train at Thebby twice a week to get games. He's relatively fit and by no means carrying extra weight, and yes, he says they do an abundance of laps per night.
The worst thing about copping abuse from spectators is that they see a totally different ball game to you, you are taught to keep in the corridor as much as possible therefore you miss things that they see and they miss things you see, at the end of the day you ripped them off.
There wouldn't be too many umpires that deliberately go out there to favour a side, copping endless amount of crap when you think you are calling it as you see it tends to not go down too well though.
There's no worse feeling though than missing a too high because you were blinded by other players or for any other reason, at the end of the day though, you can't just guess what has just happened.

[NFC]

Not a concern....in fact - quite the opposite.

Bartley Terrace yesterday, not a great day for Para Hills, but the one real positive was the fantastic performances by the 2 Academy umpires, one of them being a young lady.

Quite seriously, the best umpring performance I have seen in MANY years involvement in the SAAFL, both individually and as a pairing. Both these umpires will go a long way, don't be surprised if you see at least the young lady make a meteoriic rise in the umpring ranks.

Division 1 game for Elini this week - how good is that !!

Yeah I saw the feature story on her on 10 last night. She's so cute too.

[panther 010]

the part time umpires coach was voted in by the saafl committe. The saafl don,t have the $$$$ to have a full time coach. on the coach if u look on the saafl web site the coach umpires with a young umpire if he is not umpiring he is at games watching and he also has observers at games

[locky801]

Having a part time umpires coach is what the saafl wanted. on the umps I know 3 or 4 umpires due to my work and they say they have used 3 new umps to div one and this week they have the first female umpire to div one. I have seen about half a dozen games and the umpiring has been better than other years. for the people who say to pay more to atract new umpires remember the clubs pay the umps and would not want to pay extra.

Since when did they want a part time coach, News to all of us when this happened and if they did who made that decision?????

Bloody amazing, I actually saw Mr Button last night on TV spruiking about the young lady umpire.It's a pity he didn't get out to watch more games and take notice of how bad some of his male umpires really are and place them accordingly.

Ah he does he boundary umpires a number of games each weekend, as for the young lady making her debut in Div 1, she deserves it, she has left alot her of her male counterparts behind, if she keeps up i can see her in the SANFLwithin 2 years and the AFLwithin 3 to 4