The Whistle Blower - 22nd September 2007

Today sees the last of the Finals for this year with the GFL Grand Finals at Skilled Stadium.  Congratulations to all those involved, clubs, players, officials, and umpires.  It’s always a great day for umpires running in Grand Finals on Skilled Stadium.   There will be a great start to the day with a Grand Final Breakfast at the Clarendon, before crossing LaTrobe Terrace to Skilled Stadium for the rest of the day to support the umpires and see some great football.

I would like to thank the sponsors that have been on board with the umpires this year, namely,  Major Sponsor METRICON, along with The Clarendon Hotel, Ford Credit Co-op Society, Balls’ n’ Bumpers, Faggs Mitre 10, Steve Keating Financial Services and Tony Brooks Jims Mowing.   Their support has been fantastic and hopefully will continue next season.

GFUL Junior Co-ordinator, Jack Ververs, pulled off a great coup for the GFUL by successfully nominating Geelong Umpires to officiate in the NAB AUSKICK games at half-time in the Hawthorn v Kangaroos Semi-Final at the MCG last Saturday night.  Young umpires who were priviledged to have a run at the “G’  before a huge finals crowd and enjoy a magnificent experience included:   Sisters Olivia and Bridget Wanat, Trent Ververs, Jesse Verdichizzi, Tim Callander, Ashlee Spalding, Louis Darbyshire and Jack Krzywdzinski.  Great work Jack.

David Chaston completed his 13th straight Senior Grand Final on Saturday.  Anyone who knows Chasto and has been unfortunate enough to have been within hearing distance of him over the past week, will no doubt be very aware of the fact as he just hasn’t stopped reminding anyone and everyone within range of his “outsanding record”.  Well Done Chasto.

Adam “Sconna” Edwick, will umpire his 700th GFUL game in the GFL Reserve Grade Grand Final this week.  It was touch and go to see if he would crack the 700 mark before the end of the season and what better day to finally achieve such a magnificent milestone, than to do it on the final day of the year in a Grand Final.   Congratulations Adam and have a great day.

Allan Grant not only coaches the Goal umpires, he also takes his camera with him everywhere and has taken some great photos of umpires during the year, but particularly throughout the finals.  Thanks Allan for your contribution all year

The GFUL Annual Presentation Dinner on Saturday 6th October, is a sell out.   All available tickets have been sold.   Members wishing to attend the Presentation Dinner who have not already booked tickets, will now have to go on a Stand-By List and hope for a cancellation.    Distribution of tickets from the Stand-By list will be made strictly in date of booking order.  Please contact Bill Fulton to have your name added to the Stand-By List.   Another date not to forget is the Annual General Meeting on November 7th and I  urge all members attend.   You will be notified by mail with an Agenda for the evening.    Nominations for the board will also be called for.

I haven’t heard of too many retirements yet, so I assume most umpires will be back next year and if you want to get a head start, Mandi Cole is arranging some “out of season” training sessions at Landy Field over the summer months on Wednesday and Fridays, anyone who is interested, just ask Mandi for the details.  Sessions begin October 3rd.   Lee Troop is organising the Ron Clarke Classic and is looking for umpires to compete in an event against the football clubs, contact Mark Bushfield if you are interested.

After the Senior Grand Final it’s back to the GFUL rooms for a final get together for the year.  It would be great to see a large number of umpires turn up to celebrate the end of another season and share a celebratory drink with the Grand Final Umpires.

Have a great Summer and see you all back next year.

Macca
Damian McMaster

The Whistle Blower - 15th September 2007

Today is Grand Final Day for the Geelong and District Football League with their Senior, Reserve and U/18 Grand finals all being played at St Albans Reserve.   Congratulations to all those involved, clubs, players, officials, and umpires.

Last  Thursday week, 6th of September, the umpires had their last official training session for the year followed by a dinner and the Annual Auction.  About 100 members sat down to a BBQ dinner after which, training awards, the annual auction and the appointments for the remaining finals games for the year, including the Grand Final appointments, were announced.  A big thankyou  to everyone who helped out on the evening which was extremely successful. 

One very important announcement on the night was the winner of the footy tipping competition.  Going into the last round, three people were on the same score, myself, Sarah Villanti and Daniel Dorling.   Fortunately, I came up trumps and took out the first prize, winning by one, with Sarah second, and Daniel actually falling to equal third with another Villanti, Maryanne.  Thanks Bazza McCrae for running the tips for the year.

Training Supervisor,Mark Bushfield, announced the winners of the Umpy’s 400m handicap race competition in which runners competed and received points for 400m races held at various stages throughout the season.  The 16 highest points scorers qualified to run in the final which was won by Nick Steel.

Other very important announcements were the winners of the Jack “Ripper” Robinson Training Awards for 2007.   The trophies were presented to the winners by Mick Robinson, President of the GFUL Life Members Association and brother of the late Jack “Ripper” Robinson who was the GFUL Training Supervisor for twenty years.   The Winners of the Training Awards were:
Field – Greg Cullen, Boundary – Jake Robertson, Goal – Rick Jones
Junior – Pierce Johnson and Jake O’Brien and Junior Development Squad – Jack Krzywdzinski.  Congratulations to all of the winners

The Annual Auction followed the Training Award presentations and after a slow start, Auctioneer Mark “The Fireman” Osborne, fired the gathering up into a bidding frenzy with the end result being the best result we have ever had.   Tony Brooks donated a major raffle prize, an outdoor patio heater and it was taken home by our chairman, Brendan Beveridge.  One other hot item was a green AFL umpire’s shirt signed by all the Melbourne based 2007 AFL Senior Field Umpire Panel members.   Bidding was very keen and Bertie Touwslager managed to out bid a large number of interested umpires.

Congratulations to all the Training Award winners, Auction Item Donators and bidding participants who all contributed to a fantastic evening.
   
The Presentation Dinner will be held on Saturday 6th October, you must see Bill Fulton and organise your ticket, numbers are limited.  Mandi Cole is arranging some “out of season” training sessions at Landy Field over the summer months on Wednesdays and Fridays, anyone who is interested, just ask Mandi for the details.

Get down to the Clarendon Hotel tonight as we have exclusive use of their Bistro Room.  Plenty turned up last week and I’m sure plenty will attend tonight.  All GFUL members and their families are urged to attend each of the Grand Final functions to help celebrate with the participating umpires.

Macca
Damian McMaster GFUL  

The Whistle Blower - 8th September 2007 

Today sees the main action taking place down at Torquay on Bellarine Football League Grand Final Day and congratulations to all teams involved.

Last weekend saw all the Junior Grand Finals completed over three days at West Oval, kicking off on Friday night, then all day Saturday and Sunday.  The opening Grand Final on Friday had someone who was lucky enough to have had the same gig last year, namely, Russell Pritchard, who was one of the Field Umpires in 2006 but has since switched to Goal Umpiring to complete a unique double in 2007.   Whist on the Junior Finals, the GFUL have had a very successful year in their Junior Development Program with 12 first year field umpires, out of a total number of 25, appointed to Junior Grand Finals.   Six of the twelve first year Grand Final Umpires were girls, which signifies a healthy change in attitudes towards females becoming involved in Australian Rules Football umpiring and augers well for the future. 

There have been plenty of soft tissue injuries suffered by umpires throughout the finals series providing opportunities for a number of other umpires to officiate in additional games.   James Milligan, Paul Farnsworth, Chris Kenney, Justin Morris and Felix Szulc, just to name a few, are some that have helped out their injured mates, although Paul Farnsworth may be wondering why the “good deed karma” has deserted him after suffering a major hamstring injury in the first half of the BFL Preliminary Final last week which has most likely ruined his chances of any further finals action for 2007.

GFUL veteren, Bob Hallett, completed his last official game on Sunday before putting his whistle away for good.   Bob umpired the GFL U/18 Elimination Final between Lara and Leopold on his beloved Skilled Stadium last Sunday with good friend Stephen Allinson.  Bob was given the match ball by Football Geelong at the end of the game to mark his retirement.     Being a mad Geelong supporter, there was no better venue for Bob to make his final appearance with plenty of photos and well wishes prior to, during, and after the game, and I suspect even some tears at the end.  Congratulations Bob on a great career.

I would like to thank all of the Football Leagues for the hospitality shown to the umpires at finals venues this year.   Last week at Leopold was no exception with sandwiches, sausage rolls and drinks at the end of the game, not to mention the boundary umpires who actually squeezed in a couple of extra sausage rolls at half time - didn’t slow them down though.

On Saturday, 25th August, GFUL Chairman Brendan Beveridge and General Manager Bill Fulton, were invited to attend a Luncheon at the Lara Sporting Club, to celebrate the official opening of their new Sports Pavilion, which included brand new Umpires Change Rooms.  After 5 years, the wait has been worth it as theUmpires rooms are fantastic, providing plenty of space with separate toilet and shower facilities and a separate female change room also.   They are the first rooms built to the GFUL standard which the City of Greater Geelong support and as such, will now be the bench mark for all new umpires rooms to be constructed within our region in the future.  The Lara Sporting Club and Peter Kuchenmeister in particular, are to be congratulated for their efforts in complying with our requirements and building the new rooms to the GFUL standard. 
   
The Annual Presentation Dinner will be held on Saturday 6th October and you must see Bill Fulton to organise your tickets as numbers are limited.   Trainer, Mandi Cole is arranging some “out of season” training sessions at Landy Field over the summer months Wednesday and Fridays, anyone who is interested, just ask Mandi for the details.

Milestones achieved last weekend:  James Marriner 150 games and Ben Farnsworth 50

The Clarendon Hotel is a Major Sponsor of the GFUL and have offered exclusive use of their Bistro Room on BFL and GDFL Grand Final nights.  All GFUL members and their families are urged to attend each of the Grand Final functions to help celebrate with the participating umpires.

See you there

Macca
Damian McMaster GFUL 

The Whistle Blower -  1st September 2007

This weeked features all the junior Grand Finals at West Oval, starting on Friday night and then all day Saturday and Sunday to cap off another great season of junior football.  Congratulations to all players, club officials, coaches, volunteers and umpires for making it to your respective Grand Finals and for having individually achieved the goals you had set yourselves for the year.  Some umpires will be officiating in their last games for the season and will no doubt be looking forward to a break, however, training will continue for those umpires who are still in the running for the GFL, BFL and G&DFL finals and it would be great if some of you would continue to train for a few more weeks and support those still in the running

Congratulations to Ricky O’Toole for his “Best and Fairest” Les Ash Medal in the Bellarine Football League and also to runner up James Dalton.  I was fortunate enough to get an invite to the Count last Monday Night and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.   Ricky was very popular winner, as was James as the Runner-up, the umpires must of got it right, thanks umpys.

Chris Kenney would have slept pretty well last Sunday night after a very heavy and unexpected umpiring schedule.    Chris is a police officer and travels from  Roxburgh Park in Melbourne every weekend to umpire with the GFUL.   He was initially appointed to the G&DFL Reserve Grade Qualifying Final on Saturday and due to a late withdrawal from the BFL Reserve Grade Elimination Final at Modewarre on Sunday, agreed to step in and umpire that game also.   After completing his game on Sunday, one of the Field Umpires in the Senior Elimination Final between Ocean Grove and Geelong Amateurs, broke down with a torn calf muscle in the first half of the game and you guessed it, who was there to step straight in and cover the second half of the game, Chris Kenney.    Well done Chris, not sure whether your actions would have gained you a few extra bonus points come Grand Final time, but you just never know.

Spoke to a few Football Geelong officials and some well known football identities who witnessed the BFL U/18 Qualifying Final on Saturday at Ocean Grove where two of our brightest umpiring prospects in Jacqui Ginn and Louise Darbyshire, put on an umpiring clinic.   The overwhelming opinion was that they did an outstanding job and really raised the profile of females in umpiring.   Well done to both girls, however, you can’t help feeling sorry for Luke McGregor, the third field umpire in the team, as most of the attention would have been drawn towards the girls and he would have have felt very much like the proverbial thorn between two roses.

Don’t forget the last official training night for 2007 is on Thursday 6th September which will be celebrated with a meal, followed by the Annual Auction and announcement of Grand Final Appointments and the Presentation Dinner which will be held on Saturday 6th October, you must see Bill Fulton and organise your ticket.     Lastly, Mandi Cole is arranging some “out of season” training sessions at Landy Field over the summer months for anyone who is interested, just ask Mandi for the details. 
 
Milestones achieved last weekend were both Goal Umpires, John Knell 150 games and Bill Kirtley 250 games.   What makes Bill Kirtley’s milestone so significant is that he is 82 years old and is still going strong.  Congratulations to John and Bill

Its back to the umpires rooms for the last time this week for a drink and a chat before the first Senior Grand Final, the BFL on 8th September, when we will meet over at the Clarendon to celebrate,   Catch you there

Macca

Damian McMaster GFUL 
  

The Whistle Blower - 25th August 2007

Last Thursday night, 120 umpires and invited guests attended the GFUL Finals Launch Dinner in the Popescu Room in the new stand at Skilled Stadium.  The finals launch dinner, a concept introduced by Murray Fanning during his time as the GFUL Director of Umpiring, has proved to be extremely successful and the GFUL are keen to continue this annual event.

Guest speakers for the evening were GFUL No 1 Ticket Holder,Andrew Bews, Rod Threlfall, the VCFL Umpiring Development Manager, Adrian Panozzo former AFL Field umpire, 8 time Ironman finisher and currently AFL National Umpiring Development Manager, and Richard Colman, Australian Gold Medal Para-Olympian who has recently taken up Goal umpiring.

Bewsy “The Rat” gave us an insight into the many things that we didn’t know about him with some humorous stories thrown in for good measure.    Rod Threlfall had a bit of a chat and presented a couple of our young umpires in David Cooling and Matthew Robertson, with certificates from the V/line National Schoolboys Championships.  Adrian Panozzo spoke about his career as an umpire and how lucky football umpires are to participate in Football Finals and Grand finals compared to umpires in other sports.   Lastly, Richard Colman spoke about what it was like to be a Para-Olympian.  His racing wheelchair and some of his Para-Olympic gold and silver medals were also on display.    A very enjoyable and successful evening was capped off with the announcement of the Umpire Appointments for the first week of the BFL and GJFL Finals.

Well done to all the umpires who were awarded finals last week, and quite a number had more than one game, particularly in the GJFL, where we had to cover the multitude of boundary and goal umpires not normally required in the home and away season.  Some umpires did up to 4 games on the week-end and one finals game even had a husband and wife team paired up in the goals.  Whilst speaking of goal umpires, all goal umpires should make sure  they check their gear before leaving home for the game, I believe one goal umpire forgot his flags last weekend.

There have been quite a few new umpires join the GFUL halfway through the season, one being an ex-student of mine, Cameron Whitehill.  Cameron has been around footy for many years at Corio and was recently running the boundary for Anakie in the seniors.  Not so next year, as his undoubted talent will see him taking on field umpiring next season with the GFUL.   

As part of the Mentor program, Adrian Stephenson has got the ultimate set of footy cards.  Yep! You guessed it, The AFL umpires,  Boundary, Goal and Field umpires and all their stats.

Milestones this week:   Allan Werry 300, Terry Gillard 250, Paul warriner and David Cooling 100 and Nathan Kennedy 50.   Congratulations.
    
I’m off this weekend for a quick trip overseas, don’t forget to get back to the umpires rooms this week for a drink and a chat.

Macca
Damian McMaster GFUL 

The Whistle Blower - 18th August 2007

Some teams and players played their final games for the season, or career, last Saturday.   I was at Drysdale where the Warriors played their last game and it was great to see the players not giving up on the day, working hard and giving everthing they could right up until the final siren, which was a credit to both teams and the players.  The umpires however, continue on and every umpire will umpire finals football at some stage over the next few weeks.  Those lucky enough and who have worked hard throughout the season, will be rewarded with Grand Finals.

Two umpires from the GFUL who umpired in the 2006 Senior GFL Grand Final
Jarrad King (Boundary) and Stephen Williams (Goal) have since gone on to umpire at an even higher level with the VFL.   Both 19 year olds, in their first year with the VFL, have exceeded all expectations to such an extent that they both umpired their first Senior VFL games last weekend Jarrad, the Werribee v Port Melbourne game and Stephen the Box Hill v Sandringham clash.  It is an extremely unique achievement for one new first year VFL umpire to be appointed to a senior game in their first year, but to have two, both from the GFUL, appointed to their first senior matches on the same day is very rare indeed.

I must thank Scott Dixon for giving me a reminder call on Saturday to pick up my boundary umpire.   Being the designated car driver, two boundary umpires and a field umpire rang me to let me know they would be making their own way to the ground.   I thanked them for the courtesy call and didn’t worry too much about going past the pick-up point until Scott Dixon rang me to let me know a boundary umpire was going to Drysdale and needed a lift.   Luckily I wasn’t too far away, having just left home.   After arriving at Drysdale we found we had three boundary umpires and luckily, kids today have mobile phones and they were turned on.   Just as we were getting changed for the game, one of the boundary umpires, Pirece Johnson, received a phone call telling him he had to go to North Shore to boundary umpire.  A Big thanks to his Mum or Dad who were able to get him there in time.

The trivia night was a success last week and thanks to EJ Damien Lynch, for running the night.  Two teams were on equal points at the end and a tie-breaker question determined the winner, a very excited Debbie Cromer.

Bit of a whisper that a certain club is really looking after umpires extra well, I believe the umpire had to pick up his car the next day after misplacing his umpire’s jumper and borrowed clothes to go out that night.  Have you got your jumper back yet Trotts?

I’m not sure if it’s the game plan you would want to hear, but Ray Stephenson was at the Barwon Club late Friday night.  (Watching his son, former GFL Grand Final Boundary Umpire, Lachlan, playing in his band.)

Simon Flowers racked up 300 games last week at St Marys, well done Simon.

See you back at the rooms this week.

Macca
Damian McMaster GFUL 
  

The Whistle Blower 11 August 2007

On Wednesday evening last week, over 100 people attended the GFUL First Year Umpires Night.   Thirty First Year Umpires, their families and friends, were warmly welcomed by GFUL Chairman, Brendan Beveridge.   Light refreshments and finger food were provided and those present seemed to be all enjoying the experience.   Trophies were presented to all First Year Umpires in attendance.  Hopefully, with the support of parents and families, all of the First Year Umpires for 2007, will return in 2008 to continue their umpiring careers.

Any umpires who have never been to a Football Tribunal are invited to witness one first hand by signing up to go along as an observer.  There are notices displayed at the Rooms for you to sign-up and you will be allocated to a Tribunal which suits you.    Contact Stan Pokorny for more information.

The GFUL have recently sent a team of coaches to the Hervey Bay / Bundaberg area of Queensland in response to a request for coaching and training assistance.   Director, Steve Keating, Senior Field Umpire Mark Bushfield, Boundary Umpire Coach, Brian Hunter-Evans and Senior Goal Umpire, Mark Osborne, along with VCFL Umpiring Development Manager, Rod Threlfall, made up the team which visited the Wide Bay Umpiring Association in Hervey Bay.   Ossie and Brian gave us a full report on the trip last Thursday night with some outrageous stories that were on par with the Life Members’ yarns the week before, and better still they had video footage.   None better than the Director himself coming a cropper off his mo-ped (this footage is a definite candidate for funniest home videos).

Heard a whisper that Mick Robinson umpired the Reserves at Newcomb last weekend, I know Mick retired from umpiring many years ago but still keeps active playing regular tennis.   I’m sure that helped him because he didn’t seem to cross the lines of the centre square too often. 

Luke McGregor got his chance last weekend when promoted for his first senior game.  Luke has worked extremely hard over the pre-season, even attending boot camp to get his fitness up to speed and has now been rewarded with a senior game.  According to all reports he will be staying in the seniors.

Following in the footsteps of Leigh Davis the other week, Jacqui Johnston umpired her first senior game in the BFL last week.  I umpired with her and Peter Harmer in the Battle of the Bridge.   Despite the fact that Ocean Grove took the points, the captain for Barwon Heads praised us on the standard of umpiring on the day, unlike the Ocean Grove old fellas on the hill who must read the whistle blower.

Loads of Milestones from last weekend including 50 games for three of our young guns, Tim Callander, Jake O’Brien and Dale Palmer, a big 100 for Daniel Newton and 150 for Ben Trezise.   Significant Milestones for this weekend are Peter Ginn 50, John McGillivray 100, Gary Pearson 150, with big games for Daniel Wilson and Peter Schilder who both notch up 200, but the really big effort comes from Simon Flowers, who will umpire his 300th game.  Congratulations to everyone.

See you back at the Rooms tonight for the trivia night. 

Macca Damian McMaster GFUL 

The Whistle Blower - 4th August 2007 

We had some Queenslanders in our ranks last week when the GFUL organised an exchange with the Wide Bay Umpires Association from the Hervey Bay, Bundaberg area of Queensland.  The boys flew in onThursday and were picked up from Tullamarine by GFUL Chairman, Brendan Beveridge, who whisked them straight down to Kardinia Park for our Thursday night training session.  After a tourists day out in Geelong, which included a trip on the Queenscliff Ferry over to Sorrento and the back beaches, the boys were chaperoned to the Telstra Dome by Brendan, Paul Holmes and Bill Fulton to see Bill’s beloved Bulldogs humiliated by the West Coast Eagles.   Bill’s nightmare visit to the Dome was minimised slightly by the discount he received on his train fare to the game using his newly acquired Seniors Card for the first time.   On Saturday the boys umpired the GFL game at St Marys, after which they were entertained back at our rooms before heading across La Trobe Terrace to the Clarendon Hotel (GFUL Sponsors) for a slap up meal.  The boys seemed to enjoy the tour down south which hopefully will become an annual event.   Next week I will let you know how our GFUL boys faired in the exchange up in Hervey Bay.  I know they were happy with the accommodation and hospitality of the locals as they kept ringing Bill every hour, letting him know how good the resort was, the pool, the spa, the beds etc.. (the beer?)   Just as well they didn’t have an open ended expense account.

Leigh Davis, one of our female umpires who has been making head lines for all the right reasons lately, continued to break new ground with her appointment to the Drysdale v Portarlington Senior Match at Drysdale last Saturday.  By all reports she did a terrific job keeping the boys under control.   I am sure that her appointment as a field umpire in a Major League Senior match would be a first for the Geelong Football Umpires League, not that some spectators would acknowledge,  as they seem to think there are already some girls currently running around, ( well that’s what I hear on Saturday in the middle)

Last week provided another first with young Garyn McCallum umpiring his first senior game at Anglesea.   I’ve followed Garyn’s progress for a number of years now and its good to see him finally get a run in the seniors. 

Caught up with Jade Gercovich on Saturday and he did kindly buy me a beer after the game, (not quite the slab he put on offer the other week).   I wish Jade and Rachel (an ex student of mine) all the best for the future with the forthcoming twins that look very much like they are ready to make their way into the big wide world any time now.

Rumour has it Luke Dower almost ran solo at Bakers Oval last week.  Someone from the coaching panel made a late change and didn’t inform the umpires, meaning one match had three umpires, with the possibility of Luke running on his Pat Malone until the cavalry arrived in the form of James Gregory. 

Adam Edwick informs me that he spoke to that legend from North Shore, Max Evans, last week, who informed him that he would be doing his 1000th Umpire Escort Duty this coming week-end.    Good on you Max, you do a great job as an escort, including looking after me a number of times.

Significant Milestones from last weekend were:  Craig McMillan 500 games, Ross Bennett 450, Barry McCrae 350, Greg Cullen 250 and Ben Trezise 150.

Geelong are at home this week so we are back at the Clarendon tonight and don’t forget next week is the trivia night so get your thinking caps on and organise a table as it is a fun night.

Macca
Damian McMaster GFUL 
  

The Whistle Blower - 28th July 2007

It was a very busy week at the umpires rooms last week with functions on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.  Thursday night was the Life Members night which began at 5:30pm in the Social Club Room of the Geelong Football Club.    Life Members caught up with each other, chatting over a drinks and nibbles, before their AGM.    Mick Robinson still retains the Chairmans role with David Chaston as Vice Chairman and Peter Hedges the Bagman (I still owe Pete my $15 Membership Fee).    After the meeting it was back to the GFUL rooms where each Life Member was introduced and acknowledged to all the general members in attendance, but particularly for the benefit of the newer members, to identify previous legends and icons of the GFUL.  We were entertained with some great stories from three of our Life Members in Geoff Stribley, Harry Stapleton and Syd Payne, mostly about some of the interesting road trips they had to the Western Districts during their careers.  The highlight of the night was the induction of Gary Kerr into the GFUL “Hall of Fame”.   Lastly, nominations for 2007 Life Membership were announced and voted on with the successful awards to be presented at the Annual Presentation Dinner.  The evening concluded with plenty of chit-chat and some extensive throat lubrication which went very late into the night.

Friday night saw a first for our youngsters when an alcohol free Disco/Karaoke night was organised by Brad Smith and his Social Committee for our under 18 year old members.  Those that turned up had a ball and a special thank you to all those who supervised on the night.

Saturday night saw the over-age umpires try out for “Umpire Idol” with the aid of a Karaoke machine.    We were entertained by Elvis the umpire (Brad Smith) and the Village People umpires, (Jock Hillgrove, Steve Keating and Stevo in costume) with Jack Ververs looking like one of the ugly sisters.   Once Smithy announced the happy hour, the night really livened up and the karaoke went non stop until the end of the night, whenever that was.    It was a hilarious night for all those who attended.

At Grovedale last Saturday morning, it was a Girls Day Out, with an all-female  umpiring panel in an U/16, U/18 double header starting to start the day off.   Both games had a full complement of female umpires, Field, Boundary and Goal  in an awesome display of Girl Power.   It was interesting to note the reactions of the players with very little back chat in both games, showing the respect they obviously had for the female umpires.   Bill Fulton managed to get ABC Channel 2 to cover the promotion with footage and interviews that went to air on the National ABC News at 7pm on Saturday night.  The girls did extremely well in both games and a big thank you to to the Grovedale, Leopold and Drysdale Football Clubs for their support and co-operation.   A special mention for Gwenda Bell for her effort on the day, goal umpiring in all 4 games at Grovedale and then backing it up at the Karaoke night.   

Huge milestone last weekend with Noel Hooper clocking up his 900th game, which is an astonishing achievement considering his triple by-pass several years ago.   Other significant milestones were: Darren Gahan 200 games, Greg Cullen 250 games and Mark Osborne 700 games, whilst this weekend sees Craig McMillan reach the magical 500 game mark.

See you back at the rooms tonight.
Macca Damian McMaster GFUL 
  

The Whistle Blower - 21st July 2007

Finally the dream has come true, umpiring in front of a 40,000 plus crowd at the “G”.   Well I did umpire at the MCG last Sunday, but it was in the AFL Auskick at half time.   Jack Ververs, who co-ordinates the umpires for the AFL in Geelong Auskick, gave 8 junior umpires the chance to umpire on the MCG at half time.    I got the Guernsey to be Jack’s stand-in for the day and to umpire a game as he was tied up with VCFL versus VAFA U/19 game at Ballarat where son Trent, was running as a Boundary Umpire.  When it was time to get ready at the 20 minute mark of the first quarter of the AFL game, Trent and Jack were somewhere on the Western Freeway heading towards the MCG.   Luckily I had my runners with me and the AFL were able to provide me with a uniform.    Each game had 8 kids playing footy and the main aim was to make sure each kid got a kick.   Other umpires who were given the opportunity were Marcus Briggs, Jesse Verdichizzi, Bridget and  Olivia Wanat, Lauren Solomon, Tim Callander and Jack Krzywdzinski.  Thanks to Ian Callander for his assistance and organisation on the day.

James Milligan, a young up and coming GFUL senior umpire, who has recently become an uncle, was a bit worried about having to cover the GWSC v North Geelong game at Hamlyn Park by himself  a couple of weeks ago. or so he thought.  The Reserve Grade game had just finished and Brad Smith, the second Field Umpire for the game, had still not arrived.    Apparently Smithy’s car broke down near the Thomson Road / Ballarat Road intersection.  Now Smithy could have walked to Hamlyn Park from there and still been 45 minutes early or he could have changed into his umpy’s gear, run to Hamlyn Park and be raedy to roll 50 mins prior to the game start time, but no, instead he decides to let James sweat it out to the dying minutes.   Smithy rang his sister, waited till she arrived to drive him the 650m maybe 750m to the ground, arriving with only 10 minutes to spare, much to James’ extreme relief.    

Just an update on the AFL National Women's Championships held in Canberra last week.  The GFUL's very own Leigh Davis achieved the ultimate for a female Field Umpire, by being appointed to the Grand Final between Victoria and Western Australia.  The Grand Final was played at Manuka Oval and was televised live on ABC2.   The GFUL's other two representatives at the Championships, Jacqui Ginn and Louise Darbyshire, were also given high praise for their performances.  Congratulations to all three girls.

Young GFUL Rising Star Goal Umpire, Matthew Robertson, has been selected to officiate at the National U/16 Championships in Brisbane during the first week in August.  Matthew is taking all before him at the moment and deserves all the success he is currently enjoying.  Congratulations Matthew.

Karaoke Night this Saturday Night at the rooms.   Open 7.00pm – first performance at 8.00pm.  Guests in attendance,  The Village People, Elvis Presley, and The Weather Girls, we may just find the next Umpire Idol.
Friends & family welcome, $5 to cover nibbles.

See you at the Karaoke tonight.
Macca
Damian McMaster GFUL 

The Whistle Blower - 14th July 2007

Someone asked me if I had missed umpiring while I was away overseas in Thailand.  Funny they should mention that as the last 5 days that we stayed in Bangkok, our hotel which was like most large hotels, had traffic police guiding cars back out into the heavily congested streets.   The police would give two short sharp blows on a small whistle, sounding not unlike a netball umpires whistle and then give hand signal directions to the drivers.   This traffic policing started at 7:00am in the morning and continued incessantly until 7:00pm at night, and you would hear this “brrrrp brrrrp screech” all the time!!!!!  I was tempted to try and find an ACME Thunderer to put in the traffic cops gob and show him how to blow a real whistle and then show them some decent HAND signals (ie. All Clear, Out of bounds, Tap Thru etc…) to fix up the police nazi’s performance.  It wouldn’t happen in the GFUL…..

What a wet round of footy to umpire in last week, the rain didn’t stop falling from about 10:30am til after 6:00pm that night.   It was always going to be hard darts trying to get motivated, but a great young fellow (boundary umpire) by the name of Andrew Conte, certainly gee’d us up.    As soon as I entered the umpires’ room at Belmont he was over to me in a flash introducing himself and asking who I was.   What!!!  he didn’t know me, Macca, “The Whistle Blower”    Andrew was a bit different to the rest of the team as he was in mentor green and not the METRICON orange gear.  He was getting ready, preparing for the big game when he noticed that Murray Fanning and I had flat runners on.   He said that he would be running in the flats as they were the only runners he had.   Most guys do their warm-up in flats and change to stops just before walking out onto the ground.  The Reserves had finished, the umpires came in drenched and muddy and said “you’ll need your boots out their today”.   Andrew had his head slumped down looking at his flats nervously whilst Murray was trying to reassure him that he would be OK in flats.    You could hear the rain pelting down when there was was a knock at the door, “Here son, I got you a size 10, try these on”.   It was Andrew’s Dad, and he certainly sparked up when he saw that his Dad had brought him a brand new pair of Reebok boots.   He couldn’t get em on fast enough before entering the mud pot.

Must have been a big day at Leopold last week.   I am told it was the ladies day and they were having a wow of a time.   With three umpires in the middle it was pretty bleak standing around the forward fifty if the ball was stuck down the other end and the music coming from the ladies function was just the thing to get you going, so much so, that a few players and an umpire joined in with the actions to keep warm.

I’ll collect that slab next time I see Jade Gercovich to share with the Belmont Lion’s player that was ridden into the ground by him in the last quarter last Saturday.   After getting out of the saddle, Jade said he would like to bet a slab that the free kick was not there and Fanno’s video would prove him right.   I was just as confident that the free kick was there and my partner confirmed the decision after the game by stating that he would have paid the Poleaxe in the Back, even as the number 2 umpire at the other end of the ground.

Coming up, Life Members Night Thursday July 19.  See you back to the rooms tonight.

Macca
Damian McMaster GFUL 

The Whistle Blower - 7th July 2007

I’m back!!   I’ve just had two weeks touring around Laos and Thailand in hot humid 34 degrees plus weather everyday.  You wouldn’t believe it, but I did do a bit of training whilst I was away, a run very early in the morning in Vientiane at 6:30am in some light drizzle, you just couldn’t do it during the day.  In Bangkok which was our last stay for 5 nights, the hotel had a gym so I used the exercise bike and treadmill.   You still sweated unbelievably even inside the air-conditioned gym.  It was just too hot and crazy in Bangkok city to try running anywhere, the pace at which the city operates is out of control, besides, there are street stalls on many parts of the footpath, and you wouldn’t dare try running along the road as the drivers are maniacs, amazingly they don’t have too many accidents.  I arrived back Friday lunchtime to a much cooler climate and straight back into umpiring in a junior game at Winter Reserve.   Belmont Lions versus Torquay at 8:15am and it brought me right back to my senses (footy weather as we have known it in the past, wet, cold and muddy).  Amazing! The start to the season being delayed by grounds that were too hard with no grass cover, to what they are like now  and to hear that some football games in Gippsland have been cancelled because of severe flooding.

Some news for the female umpires, three young GFUL female Field Umpires have been invited to officiate in the AFL National Womens Championships in Canberra  on the 9th to14th July.  Leigh Davis, who is 28 years old, will be accompanied by 20 year olds, Jacqui Ginn and Louise Darbyshire to the Championships.   All three were nominated by the GFUL for their undoubted ability and to provide them with an opportunity to experience umpiring at a National level.   Eight women umpires have been appointed to the Championships and Victoria has by far the greatest representation with four umpires, 3 from Geelong and 1 from Warrnambool.  Congratulations to Leigh, Jacqui and Louise and I am sure they will all benefit greatly from the experience.

Also just heard the Annual VCFL versus VAFA will be played at Eastern Oval, Ballarat, on Sunday 15th July and that GFUL’s James Stephenson has been selected to represent the VCFL as the Senior Field Umpire for the game, the other Field Umpire will represent the VAFA.   The curtain raiser will be an U/19 game between the VCFL and the VAFA and the GFUL has a representative in that game also with Trent Ververs selected to run as the VCFL Boundary Umpire.   Great work by both James and Trent and thoroughly deserved.

Lets hope our General Manager is soon on the mend as he spent much of last weekend, Friday through to Monday, in bed with the flu.   He still sounded terrible when I spoke to him on Monday.  Bill we need you fit and well and thanks for the column last week.

We are about half way through the season and this week, the second week of the school holidays, you can have a rest as there is no official umpire training or meetings.   You might like to get into FCCS after Wednesday to check your accounts as it is payday.

Coming up is the Annual Life Members Night on Thursday July 19 which is always a special night.  Letters were posted to Life Members last week.  See you back to the rooms tonight.

PS:  Check out the Goal Umpires new Bright Orange Coats if they wear them this weekend, another first for the trendsetting GFUL.

Macca
Damian McMaster GFUL 

The Whistle Blower - 30th June 2007  

Our regular Whistle Blower Scribe has swanned off to Thailand for a few weeks of R & R, lord knows why Macca would need any, so yours truly has stepped into the breach to pen a few words about the happenings around the GFUL this week.

The GFUL have been getting quite a deal of media exposure lately, with our local media magnets, Tinashe Nyatsanga and Richard Colman, being recently joined by an extremely talented, and much easier on the eye, Louise Darbyshire, as the latest star media attraction.   Ventured out to Burdoo Reserve last weekend to have a good look at Louise and see how she would handle the step up from U/16’s to GFL U/18’s.   No worries, she looked like she was born to it and will no doubt kick on from here, despite John Edsall’s protestations to keep her in the GJFL.

Quite a few up and coming Field Umpires have made their senior debuts this season and 28 year old former footballer, Steven Smith, joined that select group last weekend when he was appointed to the Werribee Centrals v Bannockburn clash at the “Duck Pond”.   Reports are that he did not put a foot wrong in a very polished debut display and is one most definitely to keep an eye ourt for in the weeks ahead.

The GFUL’s reputation is constantly being enhanced with the appointments of so many of our developing umpires to VCFL feature matches this season and it will continue at West Oval this Sunday 1st July, when the best U/18 footballers from country Victoria will be on show in the VCFL’s Annual “East v West” Challenge.    GFUL Boundary Umpires Tinashe Nyatsanga and David Cooling, along with Goal Umpire Matthew Robertson will officiate in the game.
All three have also been selected to officiate at the AFL U/18 National Championships, traditionally restricted to State League umpires, and is the very first time that VCFL Boundary and Goal umpires will have been given the opportunity to umpire at this level.    Tinashe, David and Matthew were selected from within the VCFL Academy group, which consists of young umpires of all disciplines from all umpiring Groups throughout Victoria and their selections were based on previous performances and their undoubted ability.    This years Championships will be held in July at Princes Park and Skilled Stadium.    Unfortunately, the appointments do not extend to Field Umpires and State League Field Umpires will continue to fill these appointments, however, the barriers are slowly but surely being broken down and one day soon, VCFL Field Umpires will also be given the opportunity to participate.    Congratulations to Tinashe, David and Matthew on these prestigious appointments.

Two weeks ago we had a very special menu prepared for us at the After-Match session in the GFUL rooms.   Our resident “Magpie Maniac”, June Grossman, prepared some of her renowned special recipe “Chow Mein” for the small group of regular attendees.   However, the word had got out about how good the Chow Mein had been in the past and June’s very much under-catered delicacy, had been completely devoured  by ravonous adherants in record time before a second wave of even more hungry umpires and their families arrived.    June had do some quick thinking to keep the starving multitudes happy, so along with her able asistant, Dawn McMaster, quickly solved the problem with the aid of the Magic Microwave by heating up some, you guessed it, “Hot Pies”, something that is never ever very far away from her black and white brain strain.    It just goes to show that whatever problems June is faced with, no matter how serious or insignificant they may be, all she ever needs to make things right again are “Hot Pies”, sickening isn’t it.     

Welcome back to Bob Hallett and Bill Harrison, who have both been overseas on long holiday stints.and rearing to go.      Macca has just left as they arrived back., wonder what we can read into that.

Back to the Clarendon again this week after a great day at the footy, courtesy of the “Cats” playing home again.

Bill Fulton
“The General” 
  

The Whistle Blower - 23rd June 2007  

 A couple of weeks back, Mark Bushfield and Mandi Cole, the GFUL’s Training Supervisors, decided to organise a 400m Handicap race to gee up the umpires and get them into a bit of competitive running.    All disciplines could compete, field, boundary and goal umpires, provided they qualified for the handicapped system.    After an initially timed 400m race, times were recorded and fields were set.     A number of heats were run with the first 3 or 4 runners making it into the semi-finals to be run a few weeks later.  The early  4:45pm training group would contest Final 1 and the Late 5:45 training group, Final 2.    Up for grabs were Gift Vouchers from Balls”n”Bumpers and Meal Vouchers from the Clarendon Hotel, both of whom are valued sponsors of the GFUL.   Top 3 finishers in the First Final were, Paul Lawrance (handicap of 10), got out early with a good handicap and snuck under everyone’s radar.  Adrian Stephenson  (handicap of 27) came storming home, closely followed by Louise Darbyshire (handicap of 8) with a very solid run.
The Second Final saw James Milligan (handicap of 18) cross the line first with plenty in reserve, followed in by Goalie Craig McMillian (handicap off 3), with fellow Goalie Terry Gillard (off scratch) a very creditable third.    Well done to the Bushy and Mandi for running the 400m dash and I’m sure the handicaps will be spot on next time.

Had a team runner attract my attention the other week when umpiring, as he was calling to players and coaching them on the ground.    I questioned him about his role as a runner and if he knew what his duties and limits were whilst on the ground in his capacity.    He didn’t really know, so I put him straight, deliver messages to players then get off the ground quickly.   Our Director has instructed us to be firm with runners that do not abide by the rules and to issue them a yellow card if necessary. 

Milestones from last week:  Peter Hedges 450, Geoff Lamb and David Kiss 200, Dean Feeley and Gwenda Bell 50 games.

Congratulations to GFUL Legend and “Hall of Fame” Inductee, Everett Foster on his "Order of Australia" Queens Birthday Award.

This week we are back at the Clarendon for the After-Match get together, thanks Ozzie, so lets get good numbers there tonight to support our sponsors. 

Macca
Damian McMaster - GFUL 

The Whistle Blower - 16th June 2007  

With the Inter-League happening a couple of weeks back, it gave the opportunity for umpires to get out and see the countryside.   On the training track, Dave Chaston was banging-on about the fact that he had never umpired at Inverleigh.   Well guess what, Chasto got to umpire at Inverleigh the other week as did I in the Reserves, and I must say the ground at Inverleigh is in great shape, the best I’ve seen for years.    I also had a trip out to Bannockburn last week and the ground out there is also in great shape.  With the extremely dry conditions and the later start to the season, it is great to see that most football grounds are back in action.

Tinashe Nyatsanga, the GFUL’s media magnet, is back in the news again and on Saturday at North Geelong, the TV cameras were set up early to run another story on our umpire from Zimbabwe.   Tinashe, who made headlines last year for umpiring on the boundary, is now trying out the middle and the cameras were at the North Geelong v Geelong West/St Peters U/14 game last weekend where Tinashe was being mentored by Jack Ververs.    Tinashe’s efforts were featured on Channel Seven’s Saturday and Sunday Night National News Bulletins and repeated on Monday’s Sunrise program.  Other media articles about Tinashe appear of the AFL Website and more interestingly, he has made it into the Harmony Times, Harmony Days Official Newsletter May 2007 (Dept. Immigration and Citizenship).  Good on you Tinashe.

Last week at Bannockburn, both competing clubs had to supply boundary umpires for the senior game and a big thankyou must go to Bannockburn and Geelong West SC for supplying the boys, who did a great job on the day.    I must recognise and acknowledge the Herculean effort from the young fella from Bannockburn (Hoodie) I think, who stuck it out for the whole game despite being pole axed by accident in the third quarter.  He got straight back up, after some assistance, and topped it off by throwing the ball back in magnificently.

Plenty of new faces in the middle controlling senior ranks at the moment.
Had the pleasure of partnering Aaron Fredericks last week and some others that come to mind who are getting a run James include (Spike) Milligan and Peter West in the GFL. 

Milestones last Week: Peter Harmer 350, Ben Johnstone, Adam Larkins 100, Bernie O’Keefe, Kaitlyn Marriner, Mitchell Wight, Andrew Stokes, Tinashe Nyatsanga 50 games. 

I’m off overseas for a couple of weeks, but lets see you all back at the Rooms tonight as our pet Magpie, June Grossman, who has categorically declared that cold pies will never be on her menu, will be cooking up a treat.    Hot dogs perhaps!

Macca
Damian McMaster GFUL 

The Whistle Blower - 9th June 2007   

Congratulations to all the umpires involved in Interleague football last week, in particular Steve Trotter, who had not one, but two photos in the Geelong Advertiser last Thursday week.    Trotts was in officially in a photo with Adam Bell and Tim Larkins in the sports section of the Addy for their selections as umpires in the Indigenous Round of the AFL, (the pre-game), but if you had paid extra attention, you would have also noticed Trotts’ photo in the “about town” spot.   I know the other chap in the photo was fellow field umpire David Kiss, but I am  unsure about the two good looking sorts with them.  Some-one did mention the photo was taken in some very early hours of the morning a few weeks ago.

Back to the AFL curtain raiser at the MCG, the boys were appointed to umpire the Indigenous game played between Rumbalara Football Club and the Tiwi Islands before the the Richmond Essendon Dreamtime game last Saturday week.  I didn’t get to see the boys live on the “G” as I was at Federation Square watching the Dreamtime launch.    The game was being shown live on the big screen and from what I could tell Trotts was doing a great job.   Tim and Adam looked to be doing ok from the small snippets of time the Boundary umpires got on camera.  It would have been a great experience for the boys however the MCG stands were pretty much empty for much of their game, the big crowd numbers came in later for the pre-game dreamtime entertainment before the Richmond Essendon clash.

Back to the photo the boys had in the Addy the other week, you would have noticed the METRICON logo was on the front of the Guernsey.   We couldn’t get them to put their shirts on backwards so we improvised. 

I mentioned a few weeks back about the use of bandaids for nipple rash.   It has been a bit of a talking point for some umps, but I am intrigued to find out which umpires are taking it to the next extreme by using 6 bandaids either side,  4 to keep the chest taught and two across the nipple.

The coaching session a couple weeks ago was on “game plan”.   A good starting point for this is to see what game you have been appointed to on the weekend, (read the Addy or check the GFUL Web Site) and find out who your fellow umpires will be.  Coach, DK Director Keating, suggested you might also like to read the teams and see who will be playing.   I was quick to point out that I tried that a couple of weeks ago and was reading the Newcomb Ammos teams to see if my old buddy Jimmy Maas would be playing.   Not to been seen, I thought he must have been dropped but then I didn’t see any players names that matched that team.  The Addy had mucked up the last four teams by somehow swapping them over with the players listed for the Port v Drysdale match. (James did keep his spot).

Catch you back at the Rooms tonight.

Macca
Damian McMaster
GFUL 
  

The Whistle Blower - 2nd Jun 2007

There should be an abundance of umpires available this week.    The GFL and BFL are both involved in Inter-league games at Skilled Stadium this week which gives the local umpires an opportunity to officiate on an AFL ground.    Good luck to all the Geelong Umpires that have been selected to officiate in the Inter-League games.
I am sure you will do the league proud and show how professional the Geelong Umpires are by continuing on to the next round.

I am on the comeback trail after my interruption from my push bike accident, and in my come back game, ventured out to Corio for the under 16 clash between Corio and Bannockburn.   Not only did I get to umpire some of the kids I teach at Norlane Secondary College, but the coach of Bannockburn, Brent Rutherford, was one of my ex-students and the coach of Corio, Doug Whiteford, was someone I had worked alongside for a few years.   It is great to see these guys giving something back to the football community by way of coaching juniors.    It was a fantastic day for football, the kids played a great game and the coaches didn’t give me too much of a hard time out in the middle.   I was running with Jack Krzywdzinski who is a member of the green shirt program as a first year field umpire.   There are quiet a few kids in the green shirts, including a number of girls, who are giving umpiring a go.   These kids are in their first year of umpiring and are learning the art of field umpiring from experienced umpires who are mentoring them.    Some tips I have for the first-year umpires is to be positive, blow the whistle loud, tell the players what you are doing verbally along with the correct signal.   If there are any problems the experienced mentor will step in and let you know what to do.  

I had an interesting incident happen in my game on Saturday.    A free kick from an “out of bounds on the full” near the point post, was being brought back into play when the player kicked the ball and it hit the side of the behind post.  According to law 16.5 Disposal – from out of bounds
(b) If a Player taking his Kick from outside the Boundary Line
(i) fails to bring the football into play;
(ii) attempts to play on outside the boundary line; or
(iii) does not bring the ball into play in accordance with 16.5.1 (a)
then the ball shall be deemed to be Out of Bounds and the boundary Umpire shall throw the ball back into play at the spot where the original Mark or Free Kick took place.    I called for a throw in which sounds like I made the correct call according to the rule.   These “once in a blue moon” situations rarely occur but when they do they do get you thinking,  if you are unsure, you can clarify the situation by consulting with your fellow umpires. 

Congratulations to the following umpires who successfully achieved significant Games Milestones last weekend:    Mark Atkins 450, Graeme Munro 400, Peter Harmer, Neil Cromer and John Phillips 350. 
 
Catch you back at the Rooms tonight.

Macca
Damian McMaster GFUL 

The Whistle Blower  -  26 May 2007

GFUL Umpires Steven Trotter (Field) , Tim Larkins and Adam Bell (Boundary), will enjoy the experience of a lifetime when they take the field at the MCG on Saturday 26th May to officiate in the AFL curtain raiser to the Richmond v Essendon game.  The curtain raiser is an important component of the AFL’s Indigenous Round and will be played between Rumbalara Football Club and the Tiwi Islands.   The game will televised live accross Australia on the Impagra Cable network.   Steve, Tim and Adam were selected from a huge list of nominations from throughout Victoria, therefore there is no doubt that their appointments were based on merit and ability and were extremely well deserved.  Congratulations and well done to all three.

A couple of the guys on the track last week spoke to me about players colliding with them.   I’d say those players were lucky to not have their numbers taken.
Rule 19.2 Reportable Offences, 19.2.2 Specific Offences
Any of the following types of conduct is a Reportable Offence:
(a) intentionally, recklessly or negligently making contact with or striking an Umpire;
Instead free kicks were awarded against the offending players,
Rule 15.5 FREE KICKS — RELATING TO UMPIRES
A Free Kick shall be awarded against a Player or Official who:
(c) intentionally, recklessly or negligently makes contact with an Umpire;
and yes the free kick could result in a shot a goal.
Once again in last weeks round of matches, there were several more incidents of players colliding with umpires.

I missed another round of matches last week, still recovering from the bruised ribs and I must just be getting on in age, not like Nick Steel who made the trip to Colac the other week.   He told me he had attended his Deb Ball on Friday,  arriving at about 3:00pm, practising till 6:00pm before guests arrived, finishing official proceedings around 11:30pm before heading to an all night After-Party  (didn’t give too much info away about the After-Party) before getting home at 11:00am on Saturday.    Grabbed a 1 hour nap before getting picked up at 12:45 to run the boundary at Colac.  Cruised around first half, worked his legs off in the second half and couldn’t get into the car quick enough for the trip home.   I reckon he would have been asleep before the end of the carpark.  To back it all up he umpired an AUSKICK game at half time of the Geelong v West Coast game at Kardinia Park on the Sunday and was doing it with ease. Was back on the training track the followingTuesday.  Good on you Nick.     

A couple of notes from the Focus Areas from last weeks umpires meeting.   Protect the ball player from bumping front on, and one for the clubs, make sure the senior teams have the choice of two new footballs at the start of the match.  If not, highlight it on the match report.

Social Notes: Pleasant Sunday Arvo last week, don’t know whether welll see it, but Mark Atkins scored the Major Prize:  Pick your own game to umpire, & your partner.  Wonder if that includes Senior footy?  I’m tipping he will head back out to Lara in the morning as apoparantly the last time he was out there  some pretty hot members of the opposite sex were paying him plenty of compliments in his orange uniform.    
Catch you all back at the Clarendon tonight.

Macca
Damian McMaster GFUL 

The Whistle Blower  -  19 May 2007

The Geelong Football Umpires League makes the National news again.  What a great story about Richard Colman, a Geelong Paralympics Gold Medallist, who last week officiated as a goal umpire in an U18 match at Windsor Park.  The Geelong Advertiser had Richard on the front page of the paper on Saturday and then the TV stations just couldn’t keep away.  The story was on most TV news bulletins on Saturday Night and on Sunrise Monday morning.  Bill Fulton and Goal Umpire coach Alan Grant have done a great job liaising with the AFL and VCFL to get Richard and his wheelchair out on the ground.

I myself had a forced week off umpiring last week as I took a tumble off my push bike.  I was riding with a group of students from my school at Norlane High on the way to Queenscliff, when along the Portarlington Road a rider in front of me rode over some light weight metal strapping lying on the ground. You couldn’t have done it if you tried, but the front wheel lifted the strapping into the spokes of my front wheel, immediately jamming the wheel and I ended up over the handle bars and onto the bitumen.   Very, very lucky escaping with badly bruised right wrist and bruised ribs on the left.

Andrew Bews was a guest speaker at the umpires meeting last week, giving the umpires a session/lecture on team work and team building.  In his opening address he revved the umpires up by letting them know of the commitment warranted from a team which was not a good start considering the lack of senior central umpires in attendance, evidenced by the number of empty chairs in the front row!   Come on boys lets show some commitment by filling the front row every time.  The Rat’s session was welcomed by all of the umpires - field, boundary and goal that were in attendance and the Rat will be back in a few weeks to provide some further feedback and a summary of the night.   Thanks again No. 1 Ticket Holder…

Footy’s back and some go to great lengths to see a game, or in some cases, not to see a game.  A couple of stalwarts of the league had an excuse to see a game which was not on “free to air” TV.   Down to the local and see if it’s on.  Won’t be out that late the game will be over by 10pm.    However, the game was not on at the first pub so: let’s try another.  Further down the road at the next bar, still no footy but met up with a couple more umps.   No footy.  But the home by 10pm blew out to after 1am.   Apparently Mrs DK wasn’t impressed. 

Social Notes: Sunday Arvo 20th May 3.00-6.00pm @ GFUL rooms. AFL on the BIG screen.  Bring your Family, Food and Drink avail.  Raffle on the day. Major Prize:  Pick your own game to umpire, & your partner.  Plenty of other prizes.

Major Milestones from last couple of weekends include:
100 Games – Trent Ververs
150 Games – Mark Bushfield
450 Games – Neil Robinson (Biggest comeback since Lazurus) and Tom Larkins

Catch you back at the Clarendon tonight.

Macca
Damian McMaster GFUL 

The Whistle Blower - 5th May 2007 

Footy’s well and truly back as this weekend sees a start to all local football.  With the BFL getting its start a couple of weeks ago and the juniors last week,  the umpires resources will be stretched to the limits this week with the GFL and GDFL having a welcoming start.    Don’t forget umps, check and double check when, where and at what times your game/games will be played, and of course, on what day.    If you have a pick-up game, make sure you’re at the pick-up point on time and if you’re making your own way to the game, make sure you phone the car driver and let him know what your plans are.   Remember if you have any queries about your game or if you are unable to make your appointment, to contact the Appointments Co-ordinator Kevin McMaster on 52431423.

Last weekend, two of our umpires had all of their valuables, including wallets, car keys and clothing, stolen from an unsecured Umpires Change Rooms.
Don’t you be caught out in a similar situation.  Ensure that you do not leave any valuables in the Umpires Change Rooms, lock them in your car or if no car, ask a club official to secure them for you.    If you leave any valuables in an unsecured change room, it is at your own risk.
 
Last Thursday we had the umpire’s season launch at the Clarendon Hotel.  Andrew Bews was the guest speaker and gave us some insight into teams and teamwork on a professional basis.   He also enlightened us with some stories and the more humorous antics that happened during his AFL career.
Bewsy was awarded the honour of being the GFUL’s No 1 Ticket Holder for 2007, which he very graciously accepted.

I had a look at some junior football at the weekend, an under 14 game at Breakwater, which was an extremely tough gig for the umpires and the players as both teams, Winchelsea and St Albans, were wearing dark Guernseys and home shorts, making it very difficult to tell the teams apart.   Maybe Clubs should consider taking advantage of the clash strip, which is available from the GJFL, when it is obvious there is going to be a colour clash.   It may cause some slight inconvenience, but would make it a whole lot easier for everyone involved.

I could however, tell the umpires apart, as there was one in green and another in orange.    I would like to remind folks that all umpires are wearing orange METRICON uniforms and the Green outfits are for first year learning umpires which is supplied to them from the AFL.    Jack Ververs and Paul Grossman are in charge of these young up and coming umpires and there are quite a few of them.    It is great to see that there are some girls in the group having a go at umpiring under the Development Program, so if you see them, don’t give them a hard time, give them some support.    I did see the start of the next game, an under 16 hit out between St Mary’s and Modewarre.  The boys were showing some sensational skills and moving the ball with lightning speed around the ground.    It must have worn Grossa out, I think he had a nap in the afternoon as he still had his slippers on when he came down to the rooms that night.
Tonight: The GFUL RICH LIST @ GFUL Rooms scheduled to get underway at 7:30 pm.  8 People per table, Cost = $5 per person.  Nibbles on the table and drinks at bar prices.  Amazing prizes to the winning table.  Book your table early through Brad Smith.

I’ll see you back at the umpires’ rooms tonight provided I get through my official season opener.

Macca
Damian McMaster GFUL

 The Whistle Blower - 28th April 2007

Well it was lovely to have some light rain over the weekend, if only we could get heaps more so all clubs could get back to their home grounds.    However, the light rain did catch out some umpires and a coaching panel member.  I know some of the umpires wouldn’t be too happy with the “new orange” Metricon gear as most of the umpy’s have only one set of gear and I know for a fact that there are a few soft umps that like to change into fresh dry gear at half time, myself included.   The coaching panel member, (no names mentioned) Jason “Jock” Hillgrove, was observing the field umpires from his car on the second tier at Torquay.    Every thing was going fine, great position, warm and dry inside the car, radio broadcast on and wash wipers on to maintain an uninterrupted view.    His notes were going superbly, umpires attire: ticked very good, umpires position on the ground: very good, umpire decision making: very good, follow my drift…..    All was just going swimmingly for Jock,  until the game was over and he was looking forward to heading back to the umpires rooms for an ale.   But before Jock could do anything he had to call on Ossie Assit (Mark Osborne) and Parsos Automotive (Tony Parsons) for a jump start.  I’m sure the boys reports now read excellent, excellent, excellent…

By all reports the umpires seemed pretty happy with the new VCFL times for the length of the quarters, 20 minutes of playing time.  The fact that they are not having 35 plus minute quarters, you still feel like you’ve got something left in the tank at the end but finishing in daylight is great according to Brad Smith.   Another new rule for this season is not having to wait for the goal umpire to wave the flags after a behind is scored, before the ball can be kicked back into play.   I believe one P  Farnsworth forgot about it on Saturday and had to catch a taxi to get back to “side on to play”.

A few new faces in senior football for this season saw First Gamers Steve Guarnaccia and Tim Callender make debuts last week and Scott Wagstaff the week before at Queenscliff.    Steve’s thoughts were that their voices were deeper and that he thought he did much better than his accomplices.   (Do you like that one Trotts?) don’t get ahead of yourself Steve, there are plenty of games left in the season and they may not all be smooth sailing.    Another two to watch for are Jake O’Brien and James Milligan who have been blooded in senior practice matches. 

Coming up: GFUL RICH LIST Saturday 5th May @ GFUL Rooms
8 People per table, Cost = $5 per person.  Amazing prizes to the winning table.
Book your table early through Brad Smith.

I’ll see you back at the umpires’ rooms tonight provided I get through my official season opener.

Macca Damian McMaster GFUL

The Whistle Blower - 21st April 2007

It’s been a long hot dry break and the pre-season just seems to keep going and going.  Not for too much longer and like every one else we hope the heavens will open up soon, give us some relief and get football grounds back in shape.  Somehow the Bellarine Football League has been able put together its football season with playable ground surfaces a couple of weeks ahead of other local football, apart from playing a round nine fixture last week and I did notice in the Sunday newspapers that quite a few other country football leagues have started their football seasons also. 

It has been amazing to see so many football clubs finding other venues to conduct training.   I must say the Geelong’s water front, particularly Eastern Beach, is a fantastic place to train.  The umpires had a couple of sessions down there, on the grass, along the paths, up the stairs, up the hills finishing with a cool down and a refreshing wade or dip in the water. 

Behind the scenes, Bill Fulton the General Manager has been working hard as always and again has done an exceptional job in getting a “new look” for  the  GFUL umpires, yes a new look!   All the umpires will now be in orange (field, boundary and goal).     GFUL Major Sponsors, Metricon, will again feature on the backs of the shirts, Balls ‘n’ Bumpers and the Clarendon Hotel will grace the sleaves, while the FCCS Ford Credit Coop Society will don the front. 

With only the one football league playing in the first couple of weeks, you will see ample umpires in the middle, with most games having three field umpires.  However the numbers in the area of the boundary and goal umpires are quite low.  If any one feels they could help out the boundary or goal umpires give Bill Fulton a call on 52298599 or come down to training at Kardinia Park on Tuesday or Thursday nights from 4:45pm.

During the off season there has been  other another major change with the appointment of new coach, Steve Keating.   You would have noticed Steve last year as he was still running around in control of the players, with plenty of experience from his past umpiring in Melbourne he has now taken control of the GFUL umpires. 

Umpy’s don’t forget the GFUL Season Launch Thursday 26th April 2007 at the    Clarendon Hotel 7:00pm with guest Speaker Andrew Bews

$10 MUST be paid to Bill Fulton prior to Tuesday 24th April

After today’s game see you back at the umpires’ rooms.

Macca
Damian McMaster