How quick did that off season go! Welcome back to what will be an exciting year of football for the region of Geelong. Our umpires have been working hard during the pre season period to be up and about for round 1.
Since the end of last season there have been some exciting appointments to our Board of Management and Coaching Staff. The Geelong Umpires appointed a new Chairman, Mark Davison for this year taking over from Bradley Smith who did a fantastic job growing our brand in the region. The work that Brad put in behind the scenes was unbelievable and made sure the Geelong Umpires are moving in the right direction. On behalf of all of our members I would like to thank you for your years of service whilst on our Board of Management. Mark brings a fresh approach and we look forward to continuing to be one of the strongest Umpiring Associations not only in Victoria but Australia. We also welcome back on to the Board of Management past Chairman, Brendan Beveridge and Murray Fanning. Both guys are very passionate umpiring people and will continue to deliver during their time on the board. Unfortunately we farewelled Mark Gray form the board, due to his time commitments but also thank him for his honesty and knowledge he bought to the Board.
Also at the end of last year in conjunction with AFL Barwon we were able to appoint a full time Regional Director of Umpiring, Jock Hillgrove. After an extensive interview process and strong applications it was with great pleasure that we could announce that Jock was the successful applicant. Jock, who also is a Geelong Umpires Life member, has been working for the AFL in Canberra and has played important role growing the standard of umpiring across New South Wales and the ACT. Jock brings a wealth of knowledge and skill to the role that will only see the quality of umpiring improve across the region.
Our coaching structure has also changed for the 2015 season with former Director of Umpiring, Scott McLeod, taking over the reins from Murray Fanning, as the Senior Field Umpires Coach. His assistants for this year will be Kelvin Clissold and Jack Ververs. Our Development Field umpire coaching panel will be Ray Spalding, Darren Sansporito with assistance from Adam Edwick. Howard Philpot continues on as the Head of Boundary Umpires with assistant coach Karen Wekwerth continuing on again this year. We welcome back former VFL Boundary Umpire, Nick Steel, who will run skill drills to improve our umpires along with John Hilder. Our goal umpiring coaches remain the same with former AFL umpires Allan Grant heading the charge along with Colin Hood and Ray Menzies. Mandi Cole continues on as our Fitness Advisor and Alan Doherty as our trainer. We are looking for another trainer to help out on training nights so if you know anyone who may be interested please get them to contact me immediately.
Like all clubs we have been on the recruiting drive to improve our numbers and quality for this season. We have been fortunate to pick up readymade senior umpires from other leagues across Victoria as well as a lot of juniors and Footballers across the region. Our numbers are about 20 ahead of last season but this still is not enough. To cover every game across the region without having anyone run2 games a weekend we would need over 700 umpires, our current membership is 302 so either our umpires are running multiple games every weekend or games unfortunately don’t have umpires appointed so if you would like to help out in anyway please head to our website.
To highlight this, last season Noel Hooper who is also one of our oldest members, umpired 72 games! That is on average 3 games every week. During this year’s pre season games Goal Umpire Robert Shedon did 16 quarters of footy over 24 hours which is a massive effort. These guys show how important umpiring is to them and that they will do the extraordinary to make sure football is looked after. Umpiring is a great way to get fit, earn money, stay involved in the greatest game on the planet and also learn life skills that will hold you in good stead no matter what you do.
If you are interested in umpiring contact the Geelong Umpires on 03 5229 8599 or get down to the umpires’ rooms at Kardinia Park on a Monday or Wednesday from 4.30 pm onwards. Further information can be found on our brand new Geelong Umpires website. www.gful.com.au .
The Geelong Umpires would like to thank the following sponsors for their support in 2015.
Major: Metricon & Specsavers.
Gold: Buckley’s Entertainment Centre, Ford Credit Coop Society and Geelong Galvanizing.
Silver: Crossfit Geelong, Fagg’s Mitre 10, Kardinia Café, Rinnai, SC Technology and Technika.
Bronze: Barry Plant, Promote-It, and Routleys.
Also at the end of last year in conjunction with AFL Barwon we were able to appoint a full time Regional Director of Umpiring, Jock Hillgrove. After an extensive interview process and strong applications it was with great pleasure that we could announce that Jock was the successful applicant. Jock, who also is a Geelong Umpires Life member, has been working for the AFL in Canberra and has played important role growing the standard of umpiring across New South Wales and the ACT. Jock brings a wealth of knowledge and skill to the role that will only see the quality of umpiring improve across the region.
Our coaching structure has also changed for the 2015 season with former Director of Umpiring, Scott McLeod, taking over the reins from Murray Fanning, as the Senior Field Umpires Coach. His assistants for this year will be Kelvin Clissold and Jack Ververs. Our Development Field umpire coaching panel will be Ray Spalding, Darren Sansporito with assistance from Adam Edwick. Howard Philpot continues on as the Head of Boundary Umpires with assistant coach Karen Wekwerth continuing on again this year. We welcome back former VFL Boundary Umpire, Nick Steel, who will run skill drills to improve our umpires along with John Hilder. Our goal umpiring coaches remain the same with former AFL umpires Allan Grant heading the charge along with Colin Hood and Ray Menzies. Mandi Cole continues on as our Fitness Advisor and Alan Doherty as our trainer. We are looking for another trainer to help out on training nights so if you know anyone who may be interested please get them to contact me immediately.
Like all clubs we have been on the recruiting drive to improve our numbers and quality for this season. We have been fortunate to pick up readymade senior umpires from other leagues across Victoria as well as a lot of juniors and Footballers across the region. Our numbers are about 20 ahead of last season but this still is not enough. To cover every game across the region without having anyone run2 games a weekend we would need over 700 umpires, our current membership is 302 so either our umpires are running multiple games every weekend or games unfortunately don’t have umpires appointed so if you would like to help out in anyway please head to our website.
To highlight this, last season Noel Hooper who is also one of our oldest members, umpired 72 games! That is on average 3 games every week. During this year’s pre season games Goal Umpire Robert Shedon did 16 quarters of footy over 24 hours which is a massive effort. These guys show how important umpiring is to them and that they will do the extraordinary to make sure football is looked after. Umpiring is a great way to get fit, earn money, stay involved in the greatest game on the planet and also learn life skills that will hold you in good stead no matter what you do.
If you are interested in umpiring contact the Geelong Umpires on 03 5229 8599 or get down to the umpires’ rooms at Kardinia Park on a Monday or Wednesday from 4.30 pm onwards. Further information can be found on our brand new Geelong Umpires website. www.gful.com.au .
The Geelong Umpires would like to thank the following sponsors for their support in 2015.
Major: Metricon & Specsavers.
Gold: Buckley’s Entertainment Centre, Ford Credit Coop Society and Geelong Galvanizing.
Silver: Crossfit Geelong, Fagg’s Mitre 10, Kardinia Café, Rinnai, SC Technology and Technika.
Bronze: Barry Plant, Promote-It, and Routleys.
