Page 78 - AFL QUEENSLAND 2012 YEAR IN REVIEW

UMPIRES REPORT
2012 really was a year of renewal for the AFL Queensland umpiring department.
We welcomed new staff in Ryan Davey (Gold Coast umpire development Feb – March), Cameron Williamson (Gold Coast Umpire Development March – present), Dennis Gollop (Sunshine Coast Umpire development April – September), Pierce Field (Community umpire coach),Chris Howarth-Crewdson (NEAFL Field Assistant) Garry Mckenzie (Gold Coast coach) Andrew Biggins (Gold Coast assistant) Daniel O’Donnell (Boundary umpire coach) Brent Fewkes (Goal umpire Development Coach) and Cameron Nash (New role: AFL/NEAFL Field coach). With so many new staff it was fantastic to see everyone hit the ground running and really have a red hot go at achieving some tough goals.
The year really kicked off with an AFL Umpire Roadshow through Cairns in March. Umpires Chris Gordon (boundary) and Scott Jeffrey (field) attended. The roadshow focussed on recruitment and also match day environments across junior, youth and senior football.
Club presidents, coaches, game development staff and league committees attended workshops on match environments and developed local strategies to improve the situation for all participants, players, officials, umpires and spectators.
The feedback from the umpire group in Cairns has been extremely positive throughout the year and indicates that all parties have continued to make an effort to improve match environments.
The development staff in particular did an outstanding job
with Simon Devine in a new role as State Development Officer coordinating the efforts of the team and delivering current recruitment programs regionally across Queensland for the first time ever.
Regions included Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Bundaberg/Wide Bay, Darling Downs, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, Brisbane and Northern Rivers.
It was pleasing to see over 500 new umpires recruited across junior/youth, boundary and goal and senior club umpires. This is a sensational result and continues to improve the umpire numbers and promote the umpiring pathway as capacity increases in youth ranks. Club umpires also provide a valuable resource to reduce burnout and fatigue as umpires can avoid multiple matches in a single day as much as possible.
This season saw an outstanding result with umpire coverage across all grades of SEQAFL competitions with less than 5% of appointments not filled by an AFLQ umpire or trained club umpire. This was largely thanks to the local youth umpires that filtered into seniors to assist during shortages and club field umpires that readily assisted for their team and some that were willing to assist other clubs during their bye weeks.
In particular Division 1 Under 18’s teams uptake of the club umpire program was fantastic and ensured the proposed shift to Saturday was achievable. Umpiring groups have a role in training and mentoring club umpires to help them improve as umpires. As the game continues to grow in Queensland, all parties need to work together to ensure matches can be played under proper guidance and trained club umpires provide that avenue and resource to ensure the game goes ahead.
Twenty-twelve saw over 1200 umpires registered for the first time- an increase of around 10%. We also saw female participation grow to over 100 umpires for the first time. Accreditation of umpires saw unprecedented participation with more than double the usual participants. This can only be seen as a win for football as more education improves umpire standards.
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2012 Year in Review