THE WHISTLE BLOWER

This year has been a fantastic year for football and for my umpiring. Overall, the weather has been great during the season but the wind had its moments, as bad days can really make the job hard going.

At the start of the 2011 GNFL season I made the decision to become a boundary umpire. With that in mind I started pre season training. My first throw in at training was a shocker; I nearly hit myself on the head (ha-ha). Over the two weeks I had to learn the role of being an umpire and how to do the job right.

In action in the GNFL

The first game of the season came up and I pushed for a spot in the A grade team (league). On the Thursday night after training I waited very anxiously to see if I did enough to be selected. Everyone at training was surprised that my name had been called up as being a ‘first year’ to umpire a league game. I was so excited and nervous at the same time to do my first league game.

After my first game, I really understood what the umpires have to put up with, from the spectators and players and still remain professional at the job. During the year it was great and having a new role in the football community made me very active.

I learnt new skills and my fitness had improved so much as the amount of running I had to do was intense. I surprised myself what I was capable of as I had improved on my own football games with my team going onto win the U16s Grand Final.

At the end of the season we had our umpire wind up with presentations of medals awarded to boundary umpires who had shown improvement, commitment and dedication.

To my surprise I was awarded GNFL boundary umpire of the year. It was a fantastic achievement for my first year; I was then selected to do the boundary umpire for the league Grand Final between Railways and Rovers, with Railways being the victors. The atmosphere was amazing, it was a real buzz.

Overall, I am pleased with my efforts and performance throughout the year. It has involved a lot of hard work, aches and pains but I still pushed through to overcome it, as it would have been easy to quit but that wasn’t an option for me. I have met a lot of new people and created new relationships.

It has been a real privilege to do boundary umpire for the GNFL. I will always respect the umpire’s decision. It is a good thing to step outside your comfort zone and try something different it really does pay off and if I can do it anybody can do it. You will be amazed.

Respect the game, Respect the Umpires, Respect Yourself.

Me on Grand Final Day