$5000 can buy a lot of friends

By Ken Moore
ELLINBANK District Football League president Roger Gwynne won everybody over at the annual Gippsland Umpires Association first year umpires dinner on Thursday night.
His popularity was due to a $5000 cheque he handed over to the GUA on behalf of the EDFL.
Association president Shane Morgan said he was indebted to the league for their support.
While not in a trough, the association has been struggling for numbers across all disciplines in recent years. Morgan said the monies would be a real fillip for the men in white.
“The monies will go towards our recruitment and retention,” Morgan said. An incentive scheme will be announced by the GUA soon.
“It will benefit all umpires, goal, field and boundary and cater for both those in their first year through to the more experienced on our panel,” Morgan added.
Among the incentives, the whistleblowers will be rewarded for reaching benchmarks, the most obvious being the number of games in which they officiate.
Another highlight was guest speaker, Michael Hammond, an AFL goal umpire, who officiated in this season’s NAB Cup grand final and now has 62 senior games to his name after Saturday’s Richmond-Hawthorn fixture.
Hammond, from Morwell, told of his pathway to the AFL from his early days in the LVUA.
His speech shed plenty of light on the pressures and rewards of umpiring.
During question time, which lasted well over 15 minutes, Hammond debunked the myth that goal umpires were a bunch of elderly and unfit gentlemen, informing a captive crowd that the current AFL goal umpires list were aged between 22 and 48.
They must be capable of running five kilometres in 23 minutes.
Hammond also said that contrary to perception, the official statistics revealed the AFL goal umpires only made nine errors last year from over 8000 decisions. Quizzed about crowd jibes, Hammond revealed the goal umpires wore earpieces, which often made them oblivious to comments from the other side of the fence.
New umpires were presented with congratulation certificates and vests.
Those acknowledged were Paul Moseley, Owen Williams, Tylah Smith, Matthew Hobbs, Jordyn Fisher, Leigh Diston, Robert Roscoe, Aaron Bliss, John Allsop, Harry Tomkins and Russell and Declan Taylor.
The GUA operates a ‘green shirt’ and mentoring program, which are AFL initiatives designed to support the development of new umpires, irrespective of age.
The GUA want any prospective newcomers to know they will be well looked after.
It is not all training though, for the GUA also have their fun. A scan of their events calendar shows a visit to the Werribee open range zoo, a games and trivia night and an indoor go kart evening prior to the time honoured life members dinner.
The GUA clubrooms are at Bellbird Park Recreation Reserve, Drouin. Any queries can be directed to Shane on 0407 343 995.