WA Football

After a long hard pre-season which started in January and a number of weeks of scratch matches the Senior Community Umpiring team officiated in their first round of fixtures last weekend.

Both the WA Amateur Football League and WA Women’s Football League kicked off their seasons and these are the two main competitions that the Senior Community Umpires service.

Not only are there a number of umpires returning from the previous season but there has been an injection of new blood into the team. The Senior Community Umpiring team is the stepping stone into WAFL umpiring and 2012 saw 5 field umpires, 4 boundary umpires and 2 goal umpires take the next step by joining the WAFL Umpiring team after being nominated to trial with them during the 2012 pre-season.

A big change in 2012 is that all A Grade Amateur matches will be officiated under a 3 Field umpire system.

Over the past years this has been the case for generally one match per weekend and all finals matches, however with the continuing increase in the pace of the game it was deemed necessary to take this step to ensure the umpires are getting into the right position to make the correct calls.

Also it allows umpires dropping back from WAFL and those looking to be promoted in the future to enhance their skills in the 3 Field Umpire System.

Also during the pre-season the Umpiring team has been visiting the majority of the Amateur Clubs. The ethos behind this has been to not only present the AFL Laws DVD to the players and coaching staff at the clubs but to help enhance the relationship between the umpiring team and those at club land.

This has also provided the opportunity for Club Based Umpires to attend the sessions which will assist in their up-skilling.

The Senior Community Umpiring Team is always looking for more Field, Boundary and Goal Umpires so if you are interest please call WAFC Umpiring on 9381 5599.