Landmark Carnival continues to be a WAFL Umpire Talent PathwayThursday, July 11, 2013 - 9:22 AM

The Landmark Championships remains the keynote event on the country football calendar year.

With the best country footballers representing their respective country leagues in Perth for 3 days of high calibre football, for some it will mean an opportunity to be destined for a WAFL and in some cases an AFL career.

With this years’ Landmark carnival commencing, many country umpires are looking for a similar opportunity.

Though a majority of the country umpires simply umpire at Landmark to up-skill and participate, for some a key objective is to be identified as talented enough to join the 2014 WAFL umpire panel.

Two recent examples are WAFL Field Umpire Matt Carpenter and WAFL Goal Umpire Glenn Swann, with both umpires originating from the South West. 

For Carpenter, the talented junior footballer got into umpiring in 2009 to remain fit following an injury. Once he got the taste for umpiring, he never looked back. With an accelerated development, he was accepted to umpire the 2012 Landmark Carnival.

His performances supported his successful trial and contract onto the 2013 WAFL umpire panel, with the 20 year old having now umpired 11 colts and 2 reserves matches. 

Former WAFL Umpire and present Landmark Umpire Coach Ray Zoch noted that “Matt had a burning desire to soak up information, to learn as much as he could from the 2012 Landmark experience.”

WAFC Umpiring Manager Senior Competitions Tim Priest added: “What most impressed me about Matt at the Carnival was that he confirmed the strengths I had seen him display in his local South West League matches.

“He shows a natural ability to remain alert with a firm but balanced presence when the game requires it. He has footy feel, an understanding of how to appropriately manage players and situations.”        

For WAFL Goal umpire Glenn Swann, 23, who remains living in the South West, his commitment to WAFL goal umpiring has been huge.

Having been selected to join the WAFL panel in 2012, Swann travels up for WAFL training in South Perth and also commutes back to Perth each weekend to umpire WAFL matches.

Though now a WAFL umpire, he continues to nominate for Landmark, with the upcoming being his fourth.

Swann said he found Landmark a very rewarding experience.

“It's great to get the observing and coaching that most country Leagues can't seem to provide the resources for. But most of all, the connections and mates you make from other leagues around the state keeps us coming back to Landmark each and every year,” he said.

Priest said was looking forward to Swann’s 2013 landmark carnival participation.

“Glenn, having previously umpired the A section Grand Final and now being contracted to WAFL, will have a vast set of experiences and skills he can pass onto other country umpires.

“I really looked forward to his professional approach and contribution at the country championships,” Priest said.