Female Footy Umpiring Engagement Session

A campaign to boost the number of female umpires in WA has produced promising results at an information session at Perth College in Mount Lawley.

“Play On! AFL Umpiring Experience” was open to females aged 13 years and above and works to engage women and girls to find out more about umpiring and ultimately register to umpire community football.

Nicole Bolton, Women & Girls Community Football Manager at the WAFC, has outlined the objectives of the project.

“The purpose of the session was to display some positive role models.

We had current junior female umpires in attendance and a panel involving current and past female umpires who spoke about their experiences and journey as well as providing insights into the challenges they faced along the way and the support they had,” Bolton said.

The AFL’s Women & Girls Action Plan over the next three years is designed to see a growth of female umpires from 9 to 20% of those officiating.

“We ended up having 21 participants involved, including parents and guardians who sat in on the session.

The night offered plenty of engagement with questions to our umpiring group, questions to the junior umpires and engaging with our panel to better understand why they were attracted to the role of officiating.

We then provided opportunities for everyone to split into their designated area (Central/North/South) where junior female umpires provided more specific information about their area as well as field other questions,” she said.

Bolton was impressed with the interaction between participants and those with umpiring experience.

“It was a really good showcase of the female umpiring pathway.

The session set the scene for the season and gave more females the opportunity to get involved or ask questions.

We’re looking to provide support to clubs on how their current player cohort can take up umpiring to alleviate some of the volunteer burden on clubs and provide an option for women and girls to stay connected to the sport even if they’re not participants,” Bolton said.

The session follows on from the Perth College Umpiring Academy which was piloted in Term 4 of last year.

The WAFC has been working with Perth College to develop the academy and to offer umpiring opportunities to their students.

For those interested in the umpiring pathway visit: https://www.play.afl/umpire