February 18, 2025 • 40 mins
Blake talks about being a football umpire, what it takes, what it means and how to do it.
My favourite quote of the episode is "But for me as umpire manager within the Perth District, and umpiring all my junior footy there, now as umpire manager, I'm giving back to all the young umpires that are just starting. And hopefully providing a safe space for them to start their umpiring career. And being able to watch them develop their career and start out and then maturing, and starting their progress down the talent pathways is really rewarding. Which is really nice to see there."
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
Welcome to Forrest.Chat, where wetalk about individual endeavour in
Western Australia, what it takes,what it means, and how you do it.
I'm your host, Paul van der Mey.
And in today's episode, we'retalking with Blake Glossop,
about being a football umpire.
Blake started umpiring at 14 yearsof age, umpiring juniors, and then
(00:27):
progressing through to WAFL umpiring.
Welcome to Forrest.Chat, Blake.
Thanks, Paul.
Thanks for having me on.
I'm really excited, lookingforward to today's chat.
Pleasure to have you here, Blake.
Blake, you're an umpire of football.
What does umpiring football entail?
Yeah, so, there's a few things.
I currently, I'm a boundaryumpire within the WAFL Squad.
(00:50):
I've managed to do six leaguegames, which is very exciting.
so what it entails is essentially,every week on a Tuesday, I look
at the board at training to seewhere I'm umpiring on the weekend.
and I get sent out tovarious different grounds.
Turn up, make sure I'm nice and warmand then, uh, I'm on the boundary,
ump, for close to two hours.
(01:11):
boundary umpiring and game.
So essentially my role'sfairly straightforward.
I just have to decide whether theball's still in or whether the
ball's gone out sometimes I assistwith goal umpires to help them.
boundary umpires do a lot of theheavy lifting around after a goal
we take the ball back to the center,is very enjoyable yeah, aside from
adjudicating the game and aside fromhelping the game run and helping
(01:34):
everything flow, it's great to justbe with your fellow umpires out there.
you've mentioned thereabout fellow umpires.
There's a structure ofumpiring, isn't there?
Can you expand on that?
What's that look like?
Yeah so at the WAFL level, we've gotfield umpires, which everyone's familiar
with goal umpires and boundary umpires asyou'd see at AFL games and so that's at
(01:59):
the wAFL level and that's creeping moreand more into the junior level so aside
from my wAFL duties I'm also the umpiremanager for the Perth, the Demons district
junior football umpiring association.
and so what that means is I essentiallylook after All the young umpires, and I
look after the coaches and the coachesoversee the appointments of all the
(02:21):
young umpires, but I'm there to help themout, and help junior umpires and people
getting into umpiring, and startingtheir umpire journey, in that space.
So there's a nice structure thereof mostly young umpires now starting
out in the junior ranks and then.
If they want to continue progressingup the juniors, doing PFL umpiring,
so that's your amateurs andthen also potentially moving
(02:44):
into the WAFL system as well.
in juniors it's mostly just, um,especially for Perth and from when
I started it was all field umpiringand would only be boundary and goals
during the final series so they'll comejust at the end of the year for a few
weeks that's been the case since I'vestarted but going into this year, we'll
be looking at having Goal Umpires andBoundary Umpires for all of the season,
(03:09):
if possible, um, like some of the otherjunior districts around the state.
So, some already have thatfull suite of three different
umpiring types at every game.
But, the Perth region, the Demonsregion you mentioned, that is
just starting that off this year.
Yeah it's a bit of a complex systempeople familiar in the junior football
space will know what I mean whenI talk about conferences hence the
(03:31):
Perth district is part of the centralconference, and within the conference
there's three different umpiring clubs.
There's the Perth Club, East Perth Club,and the Swan District's Football Club.
And so essentially all the junior teamswill play each other depending on how
the divisions are fitted and everything.
and so Perth, umpiring districtmostly looks after games
(03:52):
within the Perth district.
Sometimes we go to other districts,to help out with numbers, to
try get all the games covered.
And those other umpiring districts,they've been training goal
umpires and boundary umpires.
And so it's not all games, but, theytry to get the full suite of field
boundary and goals, to some of thegames, like year 11, 12 games, will most
(04:13):
likely have goal umpires and boundaryumpires if they're supplying them.
and so going forward to this year,we're looking at starting off a
boundary program and a goals program.
So we're still working on lookingat how that's going to run, how
often we train everyone but we'relooking at implementing the other
disciplines throughout the season.
so you mentioned the conference and you'retalking clubs, so I'm familiar with like
(04:37):
football clubs and potentially hockeyclubs and that sort of thing, so umpires
are a separate club, is that correct?
Yeah so there's three clubs essentiallyand we're all fairly similar to a football
club or a hockey club with some slightdifferences, so within our club, We've
got the two squads and we have a openrule squad and a modified rule squad and
(05:00):
open rule squad Officiate games withinthe youth competition so what that means
is basically all year 7 to Year 11 and 12games and then the modified rule squads
are essentially for new umpires joiningand they umpire year 3s to year 6s Mainly,
if they're really talented, then theymay push up, umpire some older games.
(05:22):
And, yeah, so each clubwe meet for training.
in Perth, my club, we meet fortraining every Wednesday night.
we start at 5.
30 sharp and we run untilaround quarter past seven.
so general training night weall meet inside to start with.
Um, before training, like mostfooty clubs, um, we've got.
Set of balls, so, all umpires, they mightbe taking shots at goal, playing king of a
(05:43):
pack, just mucking around before trainingbegins, as you generally see in a footy
club, and then once training starts at 5.
30, we bring everyone in, we go overany admin updates, and so that's
just ticking off okay, what's,happening this week at games?
so within the junior competition there'sspecial rounds so there's the Soccer to
Sarcoma round where we can wear odd socksand it's, um, raising money for sarcoma
(06:08):
research so it's just a gold coin donationso it's just a reminder admin updates
is just a time to remind all our playersOK this is what's happening this round.
updates.
could be a variety of things, fromthat to some more serious issues.
after updates, we generallysplit off into our two squads.
and each squad may be inside and maybe outside, for an education session.
(06:33):
And so, the education sessionwill go over the laws of the game.
Make sure everyone's on the same page.
or maybe outside focusing on skills.
and another part of training is we'll havean S& C, so a strength and conditioning
component, which is essentially justrunning, so it's a running program,
Which we follow and we get all umpiresto do, so that we're nice and fit and
(06:55):
we're able to run out of our games.
You've just talked about, rules andstrength and conditioning and skills.
What does it take youto be a football umpire?
For me personally, I'll start whereI'm at currently, within the wAFL.
with WAFL, we train on aTuesday and a Thursday night.
our main component of trainingis our running program, our
(07:17):
strength and conditioning.
And so, Tuesday, Thursday night,we spend a good 40 minutes to
an hour, on our running program.
So, fitness at the WAFLlevel is a major requirement.
knowledge of the laws, learning allthe laws, is also a major aspect.
And so that's another part of, on aThursday night at WAFL, we all sit in.
and it's great because all of our gamesare recorded, and between our game and
(07:40):
between the Thursday night, at trainingwe're tasked with re watching our games
and creating little clips of, wherewe've done well this is an area we can
improve and so A major education inboundary umpiring comes with positioning
So it's one, knowledge of the laws butalso your knowledge of positioning so
you're in the best position possible.
(08:01):
Yeah knowledge of the laws, knowledgeof where you need to be and one of the
major things that was drilled into me whenI first started boundary umpiring with
WAFL was just, knowing what the risk is.
and so what the risk is, is okay,where's the ball currently my job is to
protect the boundary line essentiallyand what's the greatest risk, whether
(08:21):
it's the ball going towards the goals orcoming towards me towards the boundary
So The major aspects fitness,knowledge of your role knowledge
of the laws surrounding yourrole and confidence as well.
being calm, being confident, to beable to make the decision, and sell the
decision especially with young umpires,it's really important they have the
(08:42):
confidence, because, you're always goingto get questioned by people on the other
side of the boundary line, whether yourdecision was correct, so if you're
confident in your decision making skills,it really helps and goes a long way.
You can see a tie in there between yourpositioning that you mentioned about
being in the right place so that youcan make those decisions and then that
(09:04):
helps you to, be more confident aboutyour decision if you got into the right
spot and you could see what was going on.
Whereas the punter on the outsideof the field, they, didn't see the
same thing or from the same angle.
Yeah, um, especially with, boundaryumpiring, all aspects of umpiring, really.
It's about getting into the bestposition possible, to see the
(09:25):
game and let the game unfold.
and so on the boundary line, we talk abouttangents a lot and being on a tangent
to where the ball is, I'm getting a bitmathematical here, um, which kind of stems
into my, my study, but , You just wouldbe on that tangent where as the ball's
getting close to the line you draw thetangent through the the arc so you're
getting off where everyone else on theother side of the line is there might
(09:47):
be one or two people on the same tangentas you everyone else doesn't quite have
the same view because it is it is a veryfine line where all the ball has to be
over all of the line and you're lookingfor that little bit of daylight between
the ball and the line so there's timeswhere the balls a bit of the ball on
top of the line still and it's still inplay, you really have to be on that, that
tangent to see everything unfold, and makesure you get the correct decision there.
(10:10):
and that's where the fitness comes inbecause, you might be needing to move
pretty quickly if someone's kicked theball and, it's traveling at an angle.
imagine it's a bit simpler whenit's, 90 degrees, but when it's at an
angle, it could be crossing anywherealong the line and, you've still got
to get yourself into the right spot
yeah, fitness is really important,so, most games I cover at least 12
(10:31):
to 13k's, that's running, and most ofthat is sprint efforts, there's a few
longer runs in there, and there's afair bit of backwards running as well.
some more intense games and longergames I might get up to 15 to 16k's,
It's really important to work as a teamof Boundary Umpires round to make sure
one person isn't suffering too much anddoing a lot of the heavy lifting, but
(10:55):
the fitness is really important bothanaerobic and aerobic fitness to be
able to do repeat sprints, around theground and also to run out each quarter.
in league game, reserves games inWAFL, each quarter goes for 28 minutes.
so it's a fair amount of time,fortunately we have trainers.
run water out twice and sometimes youaskyou ask the clubs, um, the teams
(11:18):
playing, they might have a water runnerclose by, so you get a quick refuel, but
most of our fitness and like, managingour nutrition happens at, before the
game or during the quarter breaks.
Lead games, you never know how long eachquarter's gonna go for, cause you have
20 minutes and then time on, so everytime a goal's kicked, from when the
(11:40):
goal umpire signals to when the fieldumpire balls it back up to resume play,
that time's added on, so during a leadgame, you might be fortunate and have
a quarter only go for 24 25 minutes, oryou might have a quarter that goes for.
The longest I've had I think itwent for about 34-35 minutes.
yeah, it's really important to havethat fitness component and also to
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have the the discipline and the mentalaptitude to keep pushing through those
harder sprints and harder efforts.
that's, an interesting thing becausethe actual physicality of it, you're
off running around the field toget yourself into the right spot.
And then you've actually got tokeep your eye on the game as well.
So your body almost has todisappear from that perspective.
(12:23):
It needs to be like second nature.
Whereas if you were to enter a 10Krun or a half marathon or something,
then it's all about your running.
And you just focus in on that one thing.
You're just.
avoiding hitting things andfalling over, basically.
Yeah, you have to keep that in the game.
So I do a lot of backwardsrunning during a game.
(12:43):
just so if I'm running backtowards goal, but the balls behind
me is I've got to turn around,have my back towards the goal.
I've got to keep myselfon the correct line.
And a few times you just have tohope there's no runners or, water
carriers behind you, otherwiseyou could be in for a collision.
But most of the time they're fairlygood and they're out of the way.
Yeah, so it is, quitechallenging keeping it all there.
(13:05):
And then on top of that, once it getslater in the quarter and you're starting
to fatigue, You really have to know thatyou know all the laws off by heart so that
like you're not questioning your decision.
It's you are under fatigue so it doesmake everything a bit harder but if you
just have the composure and take a secondto process what's happened and then
(13:27):
make the decision it's really helpful.
Do you do any specific training for that?
Like, uh, you do training tounderstand the rules and when you did
things well and not quite as well.
but that actual under fatiguelevels and making decisions.
Yeah so sometimes at training afterwe've done our running session.
when we are fatigued, that'swhen we focus on skills.
(13:48):
And so other skills I focus on,obviously, is throwing the ball back in.
So we'll do a lot of that after we've doneour main training session, just when we've
got all the lactic acid in the quads.
So it's fairly similar to footy players.
I played footy up until year 12,a lot of the times we would At the
end of a training session, we'restill focusing on our kicks and
(14:09):
making sure we're hitting the targetand some of those harder drills.
When we are under fatigue, and it'svery similar at umpire training,
where after we've done our runningsession, we'll focus on our throws
or we'll focus on some decisionals.
And so our decisionals are essentiallythere's two of us on the boundary
line on either side and everyone elseis Along the boundary line in the
(14:30):
middle, they're hand passing, they'rekicking the ball along the line.
There's a lot of closecalls and it's a lot of fun.
So that's the beauty of training, youget in there and, just have a go and
keep practicing and getting more andmore experience making those calls.
Yeah, it's great at training, with a lotof the older, more experienced umpires
as well, helping out and running through.
Yeah, we just practice, we make surewe're getting all our decisions correct
(14:54):
and making sure we're in the best spot.
We've had a look at what it takes tobe an umpire and there's some very
interesting things in there aboutoperating at a high level under fatigue.
Thank you.
We'll have a break now, and after thebreak, we'll have a look at what it means.
(15:17):
We've had a look at what it takes.
And now we'll have alook at what it means.
Blake, whatdoes it mean to you,your family, or the community that
you're able to umpire football games?
Yeah, it's, I'll focus mostly on mywork as umpire manager, because for
me, it's mostly about giving backto the community, and giving back to
(15:39):
where I started my umpire journey.
So I start, as we've mentionedearlier, I started when I was 14.
I was in Year 9, and it was just a wayfor me to make a little bit of pocket
money on the weekend, and for most youngumpires and everyone starting out, what
it means at that level, it's, givingback to the wider community, it's being
able to service the game and ensurethat junior games of football do go on.
(16:03):
If there are no umpires, then it's,an extra volunteer burden for all the
junior clubs, and they have to run aroundtrying to find an umpire for the game.
And it's not something that every parentwants to do, and so it's providing
for the community in that sense.
But for me as umpire manager withinthe Perth District and umpiring all
my junior footy there, now as umpiremanager, I'm giving back to all the
(16:27):
young umpires that are just starting.
And hopefully providing a safe spacefor them to start their umpiring career.
And being able to watch them develop theircareer and start out and then maturing,
and starting their progress down thetalent pathways is really rewarding.
Which is really nice to see there.
When I first started my umpiringcareer, so I umpired for.
(16:49):
I started in year 9, umpired that firstyear, and then I started my second year, I
was in year 10 myself, and I was umpiringsome junior games, and I'd started to
umpire a few games on the Friday night,which, at that stage, and it still is now,
but at that stage, essentially all thefemale games were on the Friday night.
(17:10):
The female competitionwas just kicking off.
since I've started, that femalecompetition space has really, grown.
And sometimes I have games onSunday, depending on the day.
fixturing, and mostly that has todo with do certain grounds have
the light capacity to be able tooperate on Friday night or not?
that's a different topic though.
yeah, so when I first started I was mostlydoing Saturday games and then I started
(17:32):
transitioning into Friday night games,which worked really well for me because
I could umpire on Friday night, have arest on Saturday, and then play on Sunday,
just so I wasn't completely exhausted.
sometimes I would umpire Friday,Saturday and then play Sunday.
So in my second year, I was still playingfooty, during a footy game I dislocated
my right hip, took the ambulanceto hospital, they put it back in.
(17:55):
but, it meant that I was on crutchesfor three months, and I couldn't
run for the rest of the year.
So I had a, bit of a struggle oncrutches, obviously couldn't umpire
anymore, couldn't play footy anymore,we all went skiing as a family, I
couldn't go skiing, which is a bitdisappointing, but I still found ways
to help out, at my footy club when Iwas still trying to get down to some
(18:16):
training sessions, and help out around,and then it was just a slow build back.
But, the environment down at, umpiringclub Club was great, during the first
year, and during a little bit of thesecond year that I was there for,
made me want to come back, for mythird year, once I'd completely healed
and I was able to run around again.
Yeah, so the, environment at training eachweek was something that I really looked,
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forward to, and being part of the team.
was great.
There's an injury there that took youout of the game for a while, but the
club environment was very importantto help you, get over that as well.
Yeah, the club environment,both at Juniors and at the
WAFL level, is unbelievable.
When I, when I was first startingthe club environment at juniors
(18:59):
was, it's, it is a fairly similarenvironment to a footy club, where
you've got all your mates that you'remeeting up with at training each week.
Before training starts, we'll have theballs out, footies out, kicking it around
to each other, having shot some goal,and just general banter around the club.
it's a great environment, and it'ssomething that I'm trying to keep alive,
(19:19):
As my time as umpire manager, and then theenvironment at WAFL level is also superb.
And so it's, fairly similar to more seniorfooty clubs where with their, WAFUA,
which is the Special Umpires Association,they put on great events for us.
we might have sausage sizzles aftertraining some nights, the bar will open
(19:39):
up for a few drinks after training.
So then they also put on some oher eventsso end of season we have our awards night.
aside from that, just the club atmosphere,we do other events such as Mad Monday.
So it's very similar to football clubin that sense, and it creates a great
environment because you go down twicea week, you see all your peers, your
(20:03):
colleagues, but they're also all yourfriends and all your mates, and people you
enjoy going to each game to, and you lookforward to each game umpiring with them.
Supporting each other, and having fun.
an example I'll give there is, sometimesyou're at a game, and as a Boundary Empire
finder, you do it sometimes where youmight see a specky, a really great mark,
(20:24):
or a really fantastic shot on goal thatyou can't believe has gone in, and at
next break in play, or at the next quartertime break, you go to your fellow Boundary
Umpire and it's like, can you that goal?
Can you remember that mark?
That was something special.
and so you talk about these moments ingames, with each other, and then back
at training, you talk about some specialmoments in games that you remember.
(20:47):
Great memories that you, build and,you're able to share them pretty much
with people who are in a similar position.
So that's very, valuable andencouraging for both of you.
Is there anything else,in the, the meaning space?
Yeah, so back at, the juniorlevel, before I was field umpire
essentially there for close to, fiveyears I'd been field umpiring for.
(21:09):
I'd had a few coaches, coachme, through that, time.
and it was, we got to a stage wherea few of them were leaving uni, they
had extra work commitments, theyweren't quite able to coach us anymore.
and I got a call one day asking if Iwanted to be a coach, for the Modified
Rules Squad, which I, accepted that role.
And so I was looking after all theyoung umpires, first starting, all the
(21:33):
younger games, and then on SaturdayI would go out to watch the umpires.
So I was giving back to thecommunity again on the Saturday.
and so I'm really appreciative, of allmy coaches now giving up all their time
on weekends to go out and watch all theseyoung umpires, and help them to develop
and to provide them feedback, to providesupport to them so that they're able
(21:56):
to develop and improve their skills.
yeah, because it was a tough roleI was the coach with modified
approval squad for two years.
For that first year, I didn't haveanything on the Saturday, so I was
able to, go out and watch all the youngumpires, develop, and then I would
umpire on the Sunday, doing the older agegroups, and then while I was coaching the
(22:20):
modified rules squad I got an email askingfor boundary umpires in the PFL and so I
decided to jump on that ability but I wasat that time I was very focused on giving
back to all the young umpires and helpingthem develop so my availability it was
very limited, but I managed to get somelater games in, down at the local club.
(22:45):
We had some games starting at threeor four o'clock, so I was able
to coach in the morning and thenboundary umpire in the afternoon
and do a game on Sunday as well.
And I was fortunate enough that someof my PFL games I did with one of the
coaches at WAFL so I did a few gameswith him and he saw some potential in
me and so he invited me to join theWAFL squad for the following year
(23:08):
that took a slight hit on my ability uhand my availability with the modified.
rule squad.
So,my second year coaching the ModifiedRule Squad, I had just joined the WAFL
Squad, and so there was a fair few, Iwas doing WAFL Colts games on a Saturday
morning most of the time, which impactedmy ability to be able to give back to
(23:32):
all the young ones and like help themdevelop on Saturday mornings, as I
wasn't able to go out to their gamesany more, so I'd just joined WAFL and
then so I was coaching for two years,and really appreciative, of all the
coaches currently, especially all thematch day coaches who also go out of
their way to support all the young umpiresand help them develop, especially while
(23:55):
I'm unavailable to do that, as I've gotlawful commitments, and most of my senior
coaches, at the Perth club currentlyhave WAFL commitments, which makes it
harder for them to go out and develop.
So we really appreciate all the workthat, all of the match day coaches do at
providing feedback to umpires and thenproviding feedback to coaches to allow
(24:16):
everything to run nice and smoothly.
Yeah, while I've been umpire manager,it's meant I've had to look after all
days, so Friday nights, Saturdays andSundays, which gets very full on, and
there's definitely times during theweek where I've got lawful commitments
and I'm unavailable, to assist.
So it's great that all the Match Daycoaches are able to give back as well.
(24:40):
In your role as a umpire manager,you're also managing the coaching
element of that, are you?
Yeah, the coaches mostly look afterappointments, so signing umpires to games.
as an umpire manager, I'll have a lookover it, and make sure everything seems
reasonable, and then I'll also makesure all the coaches are on top of
(25:02):
everything, Just making sure they'vegot their content sorted for the year.
When it comes down to the trophypresentation or end of the year
finals, making sure they're ontop of everything for there in
terms of speeches and everything.
And then as an umpire manager, I'll alsolook after communicating with the WAFC,
(25:23):
making sure everything's aligned in thataspect, and then I also look after red
and yellow cards which is the major topic.
So if there's any cards during a game,umpires have to let me know, and then
I make sure everything's filled outcorrectly and everything's, sorted before
it gets passed on to the competition,and I also look after tribunals if
(25:48):
anything happens, so I get notified,okay, at this red card's going towards
a tribunal, I'll attend that with theumpire to support them, I mostly focus
on a lot of the administrative tasksaround ensuring everything runs smoothly,
but I've also found that, since I'vehad the couple years experience as a
(26:08):
coach, I'm able to help the coaches out.
And so if they need anything in training,I'm always around to be able to assist.
but mostly it's focusing on an umpire'sindividual needs and assisting them
we've got a special website that werecently switched to called Officials HQ.
it's very new.
So, sorting everything out onthat, making sure umpires are
(26:31):
able to put their availability in.
Another thing I, focus is in conjunctionwith other umpire managers of the
other clubs within the conference.
we look at all the fixture games foreach week and split the games evenly
so each club gets their fair share ofgames, um, and is able to cover as many
(26:51):
games as they can and so we take turnsdoing that and also communicating to
all the, the junior clubs to ensurethat, okay, these games have umpires.
is there any issues goingon, for them to let me know.
once I've got all the fixtures, Isend all the fixtures to my coaches
to allow them to, fill them all out,so, um, I'm a mostly support role
(27:13):
for the coaches, but I look afterother admin roles here and there.
Sounds like a pretty central role ineverything that goes on in the world.
is on with making the games happen.
Yeah, so there's a, fair bit ofwork involved, at irregular hours.
but we all managed to find a timeto work it all out and fit it in to
ensure that yeah, everything runsas smoothly as it possibly can.
(27:37):
There's a lot of meaning inbeing a football umpire and
also in being a umpire manager.
We'll have a break now and after thebreak we'll have a look at how you do it.
We've had a look at what itmeans to be a football umpire.
(28:01):
Now let's have a look at how you do it.
Blake if someone was to want tobecome an umpire for football,
how would they go about it?
Yeah, so the way I started was I joinedthe junior club, so i at that time,
I got in contact with umpire manager,went down to the training at the
start of the season, to get started.
so if anyone within the Perth district.
(28:23):
And who's interested inumpiring, the easiest way would
be to get in touch with me.
and so you can do that, simply by email.
So if you want to umpire within thePerth district, the email to get in touch
with is umpiremanager at daemonsumpires.
com.
au.
So at daemonsumpires is Demons with an S.
(28:45):
Umpires also with an S.
com.
au, so if anyone within the Perthdistrict wants to get into umpiring, send
me an email and I'll, get back to you.
traditionally, we begin training,the first wednesday of March, so
there's still a few weeks away.
We haven't started discussingtraining plans with coaches yet,
we're still a few weeks away, buttraining begins the Perth District,
(29:07):
traditionally first week of March.
We're looking at potentiallystarting the second week.
Anyone in the Perth District, getin contact with me umpiring accepts
everyone from not quite all ages.
So if you're lookingagain to field umpiring.
You need to be 12 turning 13, duringthe year, whereas boundary and
goal umpires, Australia wide, youneed to be 9 turning 10, to start.
(29:30):
But if you're older, if you're a parent,an adult, also looking to begin umpiring,
that's great, the game needs more umpires.
so as many people umpiringas possible is great.
currently a lot of our umpires willumpire two games in a row, back to back,
which is a lot of work, and is quitefatiguing, so the more umpires is better.
(29:52):
So it doesn't matter how old you are.
You're always welcome down at ajunior club, so the best way to
start would be, have a look, findout what your junior club is.
A lot of the names are fairlystraightforward, so whatever district
you're in, whether it's Perth,East Perth, Swan, South Fremantle,
East Fremantle, so on, so on.
just Google the umpiring club,and most of the names are after
(30:14):
the names of the district.
So, Google the district name.
Google umpiring club, find the umpiringmanager get in contact with them.
a new role that's opening up with mostumpiring clubs this year um, not all
clubs, most clubs will be trying to havethem, is the recruitment and retention.
role.
So some really focuson recruiting umpires.
(30:35):
so if you find someone and that role hasbeen announced on a website or within the
club, get in contact with that person.
They'll be able to help you out.
Otherwise, find an umpire manager,speak to them and they'll let you
know whenever each club is starting.
these days, a lot of youngerumpires are starting with the
junior clubs, You can be a parent.
As I mentioned, we have a few parentsand a few adults within our club, and
(30:58):
their calmness and approach, is great,and it's great on the field, and so The
more adults, is great, and to be able tosupport younger umpires coming through,
so don't be afraid if you're olderto come down, you can also start your
umpiring journey in the PFL, so that's thePerth Footy League, that's the amateurs
that's the, the seniors on the weekend.
(31:20):
so some of the lower divisions, gotfindour local Football club, they might
need an umpire, whether that's field orgoals, or even on the boundary, just have
a chat to your local club and they'llbe able to help you out, or you can
look up the PFL, and the PFL umpiringprogram, which they have a great program.
They train at the same venue asus on similar nights, they're on
(31:42):
a different oval but close by.
and they've got access to fairlysimilar facilities as we do.
and that's a, that's a greatprogram up there as well.
So, that is mostly for ifyou are slightly older.
that's where a lot of peoplego, but we're really encouraged.
Come down to the junior clubs as well.
Sounds like there's plenty of,opportunities around the place.
(32:04):
If I was about to start being anumpire, what about my level of fitness?
pretty much all umpiring clubshave a, we have a running program.
and I would encourage peopleto have a decent base level
of fitness to start with.
our modified rules are junior games.
So the Year 3 to 6s, they are allModified System, and that is going
to be pretty much state, or at leastwithin Perth metro region, that's
(32:28):
going to be metro region wide, whereall Year 3 to Year 6 games will only
have the one field umpire on them.
Umpires just starting mostgames will have coach with them.
sometimes If they're lacking a bitof confidence, the coach may come
on the field and help them out.
those games each quarter is 15 so it'san hour long, and you need to be able
to keep up with play in those games.
(32:49):
It is smaller ground, younger agegroups, so the kicks don't go as
far, but if you're able to run for60 minutes and a constant run, so if
you're just going for a long run anytime, That's a decent base, as long as
you're constantly able to keep moving.
and then, older games, theirquarters range from 15 to 20 minutes.
(33:10):
it's a slightly bigger oval, butyou are with a partner, there is a
second umpire on the field with you.
so you essentially, control half theground, and then You hand it but you work
in tandem up and down the ground, at bothends so, it's not quite half each it's you
share some parts of the ground if you'reable to run for 60 minutes if it's a jog
(33:33):
if you can just keep moving for a decentlength of time even if you want to break
it up into two thirties, have a drink,have a break one aspect of any footy game
is there are quarter breaks and half timebreaks for you to be able to recover.
which is great.
refuel, get the nutrition back so it isimportant to have the base level fitness,
but if you are joining an umpiring club,right at the start of the season we
(33:55):
all have our pre-season time like anyfootball club so it's pre season there's
a heavy focus on running to get fit, toget in shape for the start of the season.
So if you're joining right at thestart, and you're not quite sure how
to follow a running program we'll havea running program ready just follow
along, which I find personally it'sso much easier running with a group of
(34:16):
people than it is if you're trying tofollow a program by yourself, especially
if there's a harder session where it'srepeat sprints, if you have a group
of people, friends that you're runningthat, running session with, it's a lot
easier than trying to do it by yourself.
so join at the start of the season,get into the running program right
at the start, find new people, makesome new friends, the fitness isn't
(34:38):
much of an issue as you're starting.
Is there any particularequipment that you need?
Yep, it does depend on each club andwhat each club provides, obviously you
need a whistle, that's really important,last year at Perth, all umpires who
paid their fees, we gave all of them awhistle and a pair of socks, for game
(34:59):
day, so it does depend on each club, buta whistle is very important, in terms of
equipment, speak with your local club.
what they are providing you andwhat you need to get yourself.
most of the time you willneed to get the uniform.
So there's an on field uniform, whatyou wear during the game, an off field
uniform, what you wear to and fromthe game, a good pair of sneakers or
(35:20):
boots, I have a few pairs of shoes thatI use, what do you call them, flats,
just really good running shoes I usethem, I'd say 80 percent of the year,
We're very fortunate in Perth where Ican wear flats and essentially sneakers
to most games, and I really recommend.
When I first started, I was justwearing my footy boots because I was,
(35:42):
uh, footy, you're running around,you're changing direction all the time.
I was comfortable in boots, andso I was umpiring in boots, which
were fine, and boots are required.
If you're going to goal umpire or bootsare required if it's a really wet and
muddy day, and you might be on the groundwhere it doesn't drain too well, so you
need boots just so you don't slip over.
(36:04):
but 80 of the time, Iwear running sneakers.
and if you're just starting and youwant something really comfortable,
sneakers are, if you've got a goodpair of sneakers, really important.
So the main equipment is on field, offfield uniform, which asks you what you
like a club about, the whistle, and reallycomfy shoes to be able to run around in.
So, not too much really, the, one I didn'tthink about, of course, was the, the
(36:27):
uniform, but, that's an important part ofbeing identifiable on the field, isn't it?
Yeah, a uniform's really important.
some clubs will provideparts of the uniform.
and then other equipment you mightneed is the red and yellow cards.
sweatbands and things like thisyou'll most likely find at your
umpiring Club, but have a chat to your
umpire manager.
and then also we haveuniforms for at training.
(36:49):
so we have a sense of team,like any football club.
every umpire club hastheir training uniform.
this is both at juniorand at the WAFL level.
and it creates a really niceteam environment, each week.
You'll learn the ruleson the go, won't you?
Yeah, we've got a foundations ofumpiring course that all new umpires
will complete, we run this at training,so you attend training sessions,
(37:12):
you go through the course, and thatprovides the very, very foundations,
the very basics, such as positioning.
it takes us four weeks,we go through a course.
and each club will run a similarcourse to this, um, before you start.
So you, you have the, the basic knowledgeand then a, a lot of the learning comes
(37:32):
from during games or after a game.
especially when you're first starting.
It is hard to replicatea footy game at training.
It's very difficult, especiallywith all the contacts.
We're trying to not have any injuriesat training, So drills at training and
skills at training we are focused on.
A lot of it is learnt duringa game and after a game.
(37:54):
Fortunately there's more and moreresources for us to use and so we do have
some older footage of some junior gameswhere we Essentially watch back some
decisions, go through some processes, andwe run through, what the decision was,
was it correct, how you go about makingthe correct decision, what you're looking
for, those resources are growing, whichis great, and so there is a lot to be
(38:17):
learned at training, but a lot, of yourlearning is at a game with a coach, and
talking through each decision and whatyou look for, your cues, and everything.
well, thank you very much, Blake, forbeing on Forrest.Chat, there's certainly
a lot to being a football umpire.
And all Forrest.Chat listeners wish youall the best with your future endeavours.
(38:41):
Thank you, Paul.
it's been great to bea part of Forrest.Chat.
It's been great to talk about myumpire journey, and current experience.
And, yeah, I really encourageanyone wanting to get involved.
into football umpiring, wanting to be apart of football still, become an umpire.
It's great fun watching the gamesand being a part of the game still.
It is the best seat in the house.
(39:03):
It's a lot better thanbeing 50, 100 metres away.
on the sidelines, you can get in niceand close to the action, and be a part
of it still, so it is 100 percent thebest seat in the house, so, anyone
out there, yeah, give umpiring a go.
Sounds like a great recommendation.
You've been listening to Forrest.Chat,where we talk about individual endeavour
(39:24):
in Western Australia, what it takes,what it means, and how you do it.
I'm your host, Paul van der Mey, andin today's episode, we talked with
Blake Glossop about football umpiring.
Remember, there are four ways toget involved with Forrest.Chat.
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(39:46):
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I'm looking forward to joiningyou with our next guest.
Until next time, enjoy making it happen.
Welcome to Forrest.Chat, where wetalk about individual endeavour in
Western Australia, what it takes,what it means, and how you do it.
I'm your host, Paul van der Mey.
And in today's episode, we'retalking with Blake Glossop,
about being a football umpire.
Blake started umpiring at 14 yearsof age, umpiring juniors, and then
(00:27):
progressing through to WAFL umpiring.
Welcome to Forrest.Chat, Blake.
Thanks, Paul.
Thanks for having me on.
I'm really excited, lookingforward to today's chat.
Pleasure to have you here, Blake.
Blake, you're an umpire of football.
What does umpiring football entail?
Yeah, so, there's a few things.
I currently, I'm a boundaryumpire within the WAFL Squad.
(00:50):
I've managed to do six leaguegames, which is very exciting.
so what it entails is essentially,every week on a Tuesday, I look
at the board at training to seewhere I'm umpiring on the weekend.
and I get sent out tovarious different grounds.
Turn up, make sure I'm nice and warmand then, uh, I'm on the boundary,
ump, for close to two hours.
(01:11):
boundary umpiring and game.
So essentially my role'sfairly straightforward.
I just have to decide whether theball's still in or whether the
ball's gone out sometimes I assistwith goal umpires to help them.
boundary umpires do a lot of theheavy lifting around after a goal
we take the ball back to the center,is very enjoyable yeah, aside from
adjudicating the game and aside fromhelping the game run and helping
(01:34):
everything flow, it's great to justbe with your fellow umpires out there.
you've mentioned thereabout fellow umpires.
There's a structure ofumpiring, isn't there?
Can you expand on that?
What's that look like?
Yeah so at the WAFL level, we've gotfield umpires, which everyone's familiar
with goal umpires and boundary umpires asyou'd see at AFL games and so that's at
(01:59):
the wAFL level and that's creeping moreand more into the junior level so aside
from my wAFL duties I'm also the umpiremanager for the Perth, the Demons district
junior football umpiring association.
and so what that means is I essentiallylook after All the young umpires, and I
look after the coaches and the coachesoversee the appointments of all the
(02:21):
young umpires, but I'm there to help themout, and help junior umpires and people
getting into umpiring, and startingtheir umpire journey, in that space.
So there's a nice structure thereof mostly young umpires now starting
out in the junior ranks and then.
If they want to continue progressingup the juniors, doing PFL umpiring,
so that's your amateurs andthen also potentially moving
(02:44):
into the WAFL system as well.
in juniors it's mostly just, um,especially for Perth and from when
I started it was all field umpiringand would only be boundary and goals
during the final series so they'll comejust at the end of the year for a few
weeks that's been the case since I'vestarted but going into this year, we'll
be looking at having Goal Umpires andBoundary Umpires for all of the season,
(03:09):
if possible, um, like some of the otherjunior districts around the state.
So, some already have thatfull suite of three different
umpiring types at every game.
But, the Perth region, the Demonsregion you mentioned, that is
just starting that off this year.
Yeah it's a bit of a complex systempeople familiar in the junior football
space will know what I mean whenI talk about conferences hence the
(03:31):
Perth district is part of the centralconference, and within the conference
there's three different umpiring clubs.
There's the Perth Club, East Perth Club,and the Swan District's Football Club.
And so essentially all the junior teamswill play each other depending on how
the divisions are fitted and everything.
and so Perth, umpiring districtmostly looks after games
(03:52):
within the Perth district.
Sometimes we go to other districts,to help out with numbers, to
try get all the games covered.
And those other umpiring districts,they've been training goal
umpires and boundary umpires.
And so it's not all games, but, theytry to get the full suite of field
boundary and goals, to some of thegames, like year 11, 12 games, will most
(04:13):
likely have goal umpires and boundaryumpires if they're supplying them.
and so going forward to this year,we're looking at starting off a
boundary program and a goals program.
So we're still working on lookingat how that's going to run, how
often we train everyone but we'relooking at implementing the other
disciplines throughout the season.
so you mentioned the conference and you'retalking clubs, so I'm familiar with like
(04:37):
football clubs and potentially hockeyclubs and that sort of thing, so umpires
are a separate club, is that correct?
Yeah so there's three clubs essentiallyand we're all fairly similar to a football
club or a hockey club with some slightdifferences, so within our club, We've
got the two squads and we have a openrule squad and a modified rule squad and
(05:00):
open rule squad Officiate games withinthe youth competition so what that means
is basically all year 7 to Year 11 and 12games and then the modified rule squads
are essentially for new umpires joiningand they umpire year 3s to year 6s Mainly,
if they're really talented, then theymay push up, umpire some older games.
(05:22):
And, yeah, so each clubwe meet for training.
in Perth, my club, we meet fortraining every Wednesday night.
we start at 5.
30 sharp and we run untilaround quarter past seven.
so general training night weall meet inside to start with.
Um, before training, like mostfooty clubs, um, we've got.
Set of balls, so, all umpires, they mightbe taking shots at goal, playing king of a
(05:43):
pack, just mucking around before trainingbegins, as you generally see in a footy
club, and then once training starts at 5.
30, we bring everyone in, we go overany admin updates, and so that's
just ticking off okay, what's,happening this week at games?
so within the junior competition there'sspecial rounds so there's the Soccer to
Sarcoma round where we can wear odd socksand it's, um, raising money for sarcoma
(06:08):
research so it's just a gold coin donationso it's just a reminder admin updates
is just a time to remind all our playersOK this is what's happening this round.
updates.
could be a variety of things, fromthat to some more serious issues.
after updates, we generallysplit off into our two squads.
and each squad may be inside and maybe outside, for an education session.
(06:33):
And so, the education sessionwill go over the laws of the game.
Make sure everyone's on the same page.
or maybe outside focusing on skills.
and another part of training is we'll havean S& C, so a strength and conditioning
component, which is essentially justrunning, so it's a running program,
Which we follow and we get all umpiresto do, so that we're nice and fit and
(06:55):
we're able to run out of our games.
You've just talked about, rules andstrength and conditioning and skills.
What does it take youto be a football umpire?
For me personally, I'll start whereI'm at currently, within the wAFL.
with WAFL, we train on aTuesday and a Thursday night.
our main component of trainingis our running program, our
(07:17):
strength and conditioning.
And so, Tuesday, Thursday night,we spend a good 40 minutes to
an hour, on our running program.
So, fitness at the WAFLlevel is a major requirement.
knowledge of the laws, learning allthe laws, is also a major aspect.
And so that's another part of, on aThursday night at WAFL, we all sit in.
and it's great because all of our gamesare recorded, and between our game and
(07:40):
between the Thursday night, at trainingwe're tasked with re watching our games
and creating little clips of, wherewe've done well this is an area we can
improve and so A major education inboundary umpiring comes with positioning
So it's one, knowledge of the laws butalso your knowledge of positioning so
you're in the best position possible.
(08:01):
Yeah knowledge of the laws, knowledgeof where you need to be and one of the
major things that was drilled into me whenI first started boundary umpiring with
WAFL was just, knowing what the risk is.
and so what the risk is, is okay,where's the ball currently my job is to
protect the boundary line essentiallyand what's the greatest risk, whether
(08:21):
it's the ball going towards the goals orcoming towards me towards the boundary
So The major aspects fitness,knowledge of your role knowledge
of the laws surrounding yourrole and confidence as well.
being calm, being confident, to beable to make the decision, and sell the
decision especially with young umpires,it's really important they have the
(08:42):
confidence, because, you're always goingto get questioned by people on the other
side of the boundary line, whether yourdecision was correct, so if you're
confident in your decision making skills,it really helps and goes a long way.
You can see a tie in there between yourpositioning that you mentioned about
being in the right place so that youcan make those decisions and then that
(09:04):
helps you to, be more confident aboutyour decision if you got into the right
spot and you could see what was going on.
Whereas the punter on the outsideof the field, they, didn't see the
same thing or from the same angle.
Yeah, um, especially with, boundaryumpiring, all aspects of umpiring, really.
It's about getting into the bestposition possible, to see the
(09:25):
game and let the game unfold.
and so on the boundary line, we talk abouttangents a lot and being on a tangent
to where the ball is, I'm getting a bitmathematical here, um, which kind of stems
into my, my study, but , You just wouldbe on that tangent where as the ball's
getting close to the line you draw thetangent through the the arc so you're
getting off where everyone else on theother side of the line is there might
(09:47):
be one or two people on the same tangentas you everyone else doesn't quite have
the same view because it is it is a veryfine line where all the ball has to be
over all of the line and you're lookingfor that little bit of daylight between
the ball and the line so there's timeswhere the balls a bit of the ball on
top of the line still and it's still inplay, you really have to be on that, that
tangent to see everything unfold, and makesure you get the correct decision there.
(10:10):
and that's where the fitness comes inbecause, you might be needing to move
pretty quickly if someone's kicked theball and, it's traveling at an angle.
imagine it's a bit simpler whenit's, 90 degrees, but when it's at an
angle, it could be crossing anywherealong the line and, you've still got
to get yourself into the right spot
yeah, fitness is really important,so, most games I cover at least 12
(10:31):
to 13k's, that's running, and most ofthat is sprint efforts, there's a few
longer runs in there, and there's afair bit of backwards running as well.
some more intense games and longergames I might get up to 15 to 16k's,
It's really important to work as a teamof Boundary Umpires round to make sure
one person isn't suffering too much anddoing a lot of the heavy lifting, but
(10:55):
the fitness is really important bothanaerobic and aerobic fitness to be
able to do repeat sprints, around theground and also to run out each quarter.
in league game, reserves games inWAFL, each quarter goes for 28 minutes.
so it's a fair amount of time,fortunately we have trainers.
run water out twice and sometimes youaskyou ask the clubs, um, the teams
(11:18):
playing, they might have a water runnerclose by, so you get a quick refuel, but
most of our fitness and like, managingour nutrition happens at, before the
game or during the quarter breaks.
Lead games, you never know how long eachquarter's gonna go for, cause you have
20 minutes and then time on, so everytime a goal's kicked, from when the
(11:40):
goal umpire signals to when the fieldumpire balls it back up to resume play,
that time's added on, so during a leadgame, you might be fortunate and have
a quarter only go for 24 25 minutes, oryou might have a quarter that goes for.
The longest I've had I think itwent for about 34-35 minutes.
yeah, it's really important to havethat fitness component and also to
(12:01):
have the the discipline and the mentalaptitude to keep pushing through those
harder sprints and harder efforts.
that's, an interesting thing becausethe actual physicality of it, you're
off running around the field toget yourself into the right spot.
And then you've actually got tokeep your eye on the game as well.
So your body almost has todisappear from that perspective.
(12:23):
It needs to be like second nature.
Whereas if you were to enter a 10Krun or a half marathon or something,
then it's all about your running.
And you just focus in on that one thing.
You're just.
avoiding hitting things andfalling over, basically.
Yeah, you have to keep that in the game.
So I do a lot of backwardsrunning during a game.
(12:43):
just so if I'm running backtowards goal, but the balls behind
me is I've got to turn around,have my back towards the goal.
I've got to keep myselfon the correct line.
And a few times you just have tohope there's no runners or, water
carriers behind you, otherwiseyou could be in for a collision.
But most of the time they're fairlygood and they're out of the way.
Yeah, so it is, quitechallenging keeping it all there.
(13:05):
And then on top of that, once it getslater in the quarter and you're starting
to fatigue, You really have to know thatyou know all the laws off by heart so that
like you're not questioning your decision.
It's you are under fatigue so it doesmake everything a bit harder but if you
just have the composure and take a secondto process what's happened and then
(13:27):
make the decision it's really helpful.
Do you do any specific training for that?
Like, uh, you do training tounderstand the rules and when you did
things well and not quite as well.
but that actual under fatiguelevels and making decisions.
Yeah so sometimes at training afterwe've done our running session.
when we are fatigued, that'swhen we focus on skills.
(13:48):
And so other skills I focus on,obviously, is throwing the ball back in.
So we'll do a lot of that after we've doneour main training session, just when we've
got all the lactic acid in the quads.
So it's fairly similar to footy players.
I played footy up until year 12,a lot of the times we would At the
end of a training session, we'restill focusing on our kicks and
(14:09):
making sure we're hitting the targetand some of those harder drills.
When we are under fatigue, and it'svery similar at umpire training,
where after we've done our runningsession, we'll focus on our throws
or we'll focus on some decisionals.
And so our decisionals are essentiallythere's two of us on the boundary
line on either side and everyone elseis Along the boundary line in the
(14:30):
middle, they're hand passing, they'rekicking the ball along the line.
There's a lot of closecalls and it's a lot of fun.
So that's the beauty of training, youget in there and, just have a go and
keep practicing and getting more andmore experience making those calls.
Yeah, it's great at training, with a lotof the older, more experienced umpires
as well, helping out and running through.
Yeah, we just practice, we make surewe're getting all our decisions correct
(14:54):
and making sure we're in the best spot.
We've had a look at what it takes tobe an umpire and there's some very
interesting things in there aboutoperating at a high level under fatigue.
Thank you.
We'll have a break now, and after thebreak, we'll have a look at what it means.
(15:17):
We've had a look at what it takes.
And now we'll have alook at what it means.
Blake, whatdoes it mean to you,your family, or the community that
you're able to umpire football games?
Yeah, it's, I'll focus mostly on mywork as umpire manager, because for
me, it's mostly about giving backto the community, and giving back to
(15:39):
where I started my umpire journey.
So I start, as we've mentionedearlier, I started when I was 14.
I was in Year 9, and it was just a wayfor me to make a little bit of pocket
money on the weekend, and for most youngumpires and everyone starting out, what
it means at that level, it's, givingback to the wider community, it's being
able to service the game and ensurethat junior games of football do go on.
(16:03):
If there are no umpires, then it's,an extra volunteer burden for all the
junior clubs, and they have to run aroundtrying to find an umpire for the game.
And it's not something that every parentwants to do, and so it's providing
for the community in that sense.
But for me as umpire manager withinthe Perth District and umpiring all
my junior footy there, now as umpiremanager, I'm giving back to all the
(16:27):
young umpires that are just starting.
And hopefully providing a safe spacefor them to start their umpiring career.
And being able to watch them develop theircareer and start out and then maturing,
and starting their progress down thetalent pathways is really rewarding.
Which is really nice to see there.
When I first started my umpiringcareer, so I umpired for.
(16:49):
I started in year 9, umpired that firstyear, and then I started my second year, I
was in year 10 myself, and I was umpiringsome junior games, and I'd started to
umpire a few games on the Friday night,which, at that stage, and it still is now,
but at that stage, essentially all thefemale games were on the Friday night.
(17:10):
The female competitionwas just kicking off.
since I've started, that femalecompetition space has really, grown.
And sometimes I have games onSunday, depending on the day.
fixturing, and mostly that has todo with do certain grounds have
the light capacity to be able tooperate on Friday night or not?
that's a different topic though.
yeah, so when I first started I was mostlydoing Saturday games and then I started
(17:32):
transitioning into Friday night games,which worked really well for me because
I could umpire on Friday night, have arest on Saturday, and then play on Sunday,
just so I wasn't completely exhausted.
sometimes I would umpire Friday,Saturday and then play Sunday.
So in my second year, I was still playingfooty, during a footy game I dislocated
my right hip, took the ambulanceto hospital, they put it back in.
(17:55):
but, it meant that I was on crutchesfor three months, and I couldn't
run for the rest of the year.
So I had a, bit of a struggle oncrutches, obviously couldn't umpire
anymore, couldn't play footy anymore,we all went skiing as a family, I
couldn't go skiing, which is a bitdisappointing, but I still found ways
to help out, at my footy club when Iwas still trying to get down to some
(18:16):
training sessions, and help out around,and then it was just a slow build back.
But, the environment down at, umpiringclub Club was great, during the first
year, and during a little bit of thesecond year that I was there for,
made me want to come back, for mythird year, once I'd completely healed
and I was able to run around again.
Yeah, so the, environment at training eachweek was something that I really looked,
(18:37):
forward to, and being part of the team.
was great.
There's an injury there that took youout of the game for a while, but the
club environment was very importantto help you, get over that as well.
Yeah, the club environment,both at Juniors and at the
WAFL level, is unbelievable.
When I, when I was first startingthe club environment at juniors
(18:59):
was, it's, it is a fairly similarenvironment to a footy club, where
you've got all your mates that you'remeeting up with at training each week.
Before training starts, we'll have theballs out, footies out, kicking it around
to each other, having shot some goal,and just general banter around the club.
it's a great environment, and it'ssomething that I'm trying to keep alive,
(19:19):
As my time as umpire manager, and then theenvironment at WAFL level is also superb.
And so it's, fairly similar to more seniorfooty clubs where with their, WAFUA,
which is the Special Umpires Association,they put on great events for us.
we might have sausage sizzles aftertraining some nights, the bar will open
(19:39):
up for a few drinks after training.
So then they also put on some oher eventsso end of season we have our awards night.
aside from that, just the club atmosphere,we do other events such as Mad Monday.
So it's very similar to football clubin that sense, and it creates a great
environment because you go down twicea week, you see all your peers, your
(20:03):
colleagues, but they're also all yourfriends and all your mates, and people you
enjoy going to each game to, and you lookforward to each game umpiring with them.
Supporting each other, and having fun.
an example I'll give there is, sometimesyou're at a game, and as a Boundary Empire
finder, you do it sometimes where youmight see a specky, a really great mark,
(20:24):
or a really fantastic shot on goal thatyou can't believe has gone in, and at
next break in play, or at the next quartertime break, you go to your fellow Boundary
Umpire and it's like, can you that goal?
Can you remember that mark?
That was something special.
and so you talk about these moments ingames, with each other, and then back
at training, you talk about some specialmoments in games that you remember.
(20:47):
Great memories that you, build and,you're able to share them pretty much
with people who are in a similar position.
So that's very, valuable andencouraging for both of you.
Is there anything else,in the, the meaning space?
Yeah, so back at, the juniorlevel, before I was field umpire
essentially there for close to, fiveyears I'd been field umpiring for.
(21:09):
I'd had a few coaches, coachme, through that, time.
and it was, we got to a stage wherea few of them were leaving uni, they
had extra work commitments, theyweren't quite able to coach us anymore.
and I got a call one day asking if Iwanted to be a coach, for the Modified
Rules Squad, which I, accepted that role.
And so I was looking after all theyoung umpires, first starting, all the
(21:33):
younger games, and then on SaturdayI would go out to watch the umpires.
So I was giving back to thecommunity again on the Saturday.
and so I'm really appreciative, of allmy coaches now giving up all their time
on weekends to go out and watch all theseyoung umpires, and help them to develop
and to provide them feedback, to providesupport to them so that they're able
(21:56):
to develop and improve their skills.
yeah, because it was a tough roleI was the coach with modified
approval squad for two years.
For that first year, I didn't haveanything on the Saturday, so I was
able to, go out and watch all the youngumpires, develop, and then I would
umpire on the Sunday, doing the older agegroups, and then while I was coaching the
(22:20):
modified rules squad I got an email askingfor boundary umpires in the PFL and so I
decided to jump on that ability but I wasat that time I was very focused on giving
back to all the young umpires and helpingthem develop so my availability it was
very limited, but I managed to get somelater games in, down at the local club.
(22:45):
We had some games starting at threeor four o'clock, so I was able
to coach in the morning and thenboundary umpire in the afternoon
and do a game on Sunday as well.
And I was fortunate enough that someof my PFL games I did with one of the
coaches at WAFL so I did a few gameswith him and he saw some potential in
me and so he invited me to join theWAFL squad for the following year
(23:08):
that took a slight hit on my ability uhand my availability with the modified.
rule squad.
So,my second year coaching the ModifiedRule Squad, I had just joined the WAFL
Squad, and so there was a fair few, Iwas doing WAFL Colts games on a Saturday
morning most of the time, which impactedmy ability to be able to give back to
(23:32):
all the young ones and like help themdevelop on Saturday mornings, as I
wasn't able to go out to their gamesany more, so I'd just joined WAFL and
then so I was coaching for two years,and really appreciative, of all the
coaches currently, especially all thematch day coaches who also go out of
their way to support all the young umpiresand help them develop, especially while
(23:55):
I'm unavailable to do that, as I've gotlawful commitments, and most of my senior
coaches, at the Perth club currentlyhave WAFL commitments, which makes it
harder for them to go out and develop.
So we really appreciate all the workthat, all of the match day coaches do at
providing feedback to umpires and thenproviding feedback to coaches to allow
(24:16):
everything to run nice and smoothly.
Yeah, while I've been umpire manager,it's meant I've had to look after all
days, so Friday nights, Saturdays andSundays, which gets very full on, and
there's definitely times during theweek where I've got lawful commitments
and I'm unavailable, to assist.
So it's great that all the Match Daycoaches are able to give back as well.
(24:40):
In your role as a umpire manager,you're also managing the coaching
element of that, are you?
Yeah, the coaches mostly look afterappointments, so signing umpires to games.
as an umpire manager, I'll have a lookover it, and make sure everything seems
reasonable, and then I'll also makesure all the coaches are on top of
(25:02):
everything, Just making sure they'vegot their content sorted for the year.
When it comes down to the trophypresentation or end of the year
finals, making sure they're ontop of everything for there in
terms of speeches and everything.
And then as an umpire manager, I'll alsolook after communicating with the WAFC,
(25:23):
making sure everything's aligned in thataspect, and then I also look after red
and yellow cards which is the major topic.
So if there's any cards during a game,umpires have to let me know, and then
I make sure everything's filled outcorrectly and everything's, sorted before
it gets passed on to the competition,and I also look after tribunals if
(25:48):
anything happens, so I get notified,okay, at this red card's going towards
a tribunal, I'll attend that with theumpire to support them, I mostly focus
on a lot of the administrative tasksaround ensuring everything runs smoothly,
but I've also found that, since I'vehad the couple years experience as a
(26:08):
coach, I'm able to help the coaches out.
And so if they need anything in training,I'm always around to be able to assist.
but mostly it's focusing on an umpire'sindividual needs and assisting them
we've got a special website that werecently switched to called Officials HQ.
it's very new.
So, sorting everything out onthat, making sure umpires are
(26:31):
able to put their availability in.
Another thing I, focus is in conjunctionwith other umpire managers of the
other clubs within the conference.
we look at all the fixture games foreach week and split the games evenly
so each club gets their fair share ofgames, um, and is able to cover as many
(26:51):
games as they can and so we take turnsdoing that and also communicating to
all the, the junior clubs to ensurethat, okay, these games have umpires.
is there any issues goingon, for them to let me know.
once I've got all the fixtures, Isend all the fixtures to my coaches
to allow them to, fill them all out,so, um, I'm a mostly support role
(27:13):
for the coaches, but I look afterother admin roles here and there.
Sounds like a pretty central role ineverything that goes on in the world.
is on with making the games happen.
Yeah, so there's a, fair bit ofwork involved, at irregular hours.
but we all managed to find a timeto work it all out and fit it in to
ensure that yeah, everything runsas smoothly as it possibly can.
(27:37):
There's a lot of meaning inbeing a football umpire and
also in being a umpire manager.
We'll have a break now and after thebreak we'll have a look at how you do it.
We've had a look at what itmeans to be a football umpire.
(28:01):
Now let's have a look at how you do it.
Blake if someone was to want tobecome an umpire for football,
how would they go about it?
Yeah, so the way I started was I joinedthe junior club, so i at that time,
I got in contact with umpire manager,went down to the training at the
start of the season, to get started.
so if anyone within the Perth district.
(28:23):
And who's interested inumpiring, the easiest way would
be to get in touch with me.
and so you can do that, simply by email.
So if you want to umpire within thePerth district, the email to get in touch
with is umpiremanager at daemonsumpires.
com.
au.
So at daemonsumpires is Demons with an S.
(28:45):
Umpires also with an S.
com.
au, so if anyone within the Perthdistrict wants to get into umpiring, send
me an email and I'll, get back to you.
traditionally, we begin training,the first wednesday of March, so
there's still a few weeks away.
We haven't started discussingtraining plans with coaches yet,
we're still a few weeks away, buttraining begins the Perth District,
(29:07):
traditionally first week of March.
We're looking at potentiallystarting the second week.
Anyone in the Perth District, getin contact with me umpiring accepts
everyone from not quite all ages.
So if you're lookingagain to field umpiring.
You need to be 12 turning 13, duringthe year, whereas boundary and
goal umpires, Australia wide, youneed to be 9 turning 10, to start.
(29:30):
But if you're older, if you're a parent,an adult, also looking to begin umpiring,
that's great, the game needs more umpires.
so as many people umpiringas possible is great.
currently a lot of our umpires willumpire two games in a row, back to back,
which is a lot of work, and is quitefatiguing, so the more umpires is better.
(29:52):
So it doesn't matter how old you are.
You're always welcome down at ajunior club, so the best way to
start would be, have a look, findout what your junior club is.
A lot of the names are fairlystraightforward, so whatever district
you're in, whether it's Perth,East Perth, Swan, South Fremantle,
East Fremantle, so on, so on.
just Google the umpiring club,and most of the names are after
(30:14):
the names of the district.
So, Google the district name.
Google umpiring club, find the umpiringmanager get in contact with them.
a new role that's opening up with mostumpiring clubs this year um, not all
clubs, most clubs will be trying to havethem, is the recruitment and retention.
role.
So some really focuson recruiting umpires.
(30:35):
so if you find someone and that role hasbeen announced on a website or within the
club, get in contact with that person.
They'll be able to help you out.
Otherwise, find an umpire manager,speak to them and they'll let you
know whenever each club is starting.
these days, a lot of youngerumpires are starting with the
junior clubs, You can be a parent.
As I mentioned, we have a few parentsand a few adults within our club, and
(30:58):
their calmness and approach, is great,and it's great on the field, and so The
more adults, is great, and to be able tosupport younger umpires coming through,
so don't be afraid if you're olderto come down, you can also start your
umpiring journey in the PFL, so that's thePerth Footy League, that's the amateurs
that's the, the seniors on the weekend.
(31:20):
so some of the lower divisions, gotfindour local Football club, they might
need an umpire, whether that's field orgoals, or even on the boundary, just have
a chat to your local club and they'llbe able to help you out, or you can
look up the PFL, and the PFL umpiringprogram, which they have a great program.
They train at the same venue asus on similar nights, they're on
(31:42):
a different oval but close by.
and they've got access to fairlysimilar facilities as we do.
and that's a, that's a greatprogram up there as well.
So, that is mostly for ifyou are slightly older.
that's where a lot of peoplego, but we're really encouraged.
Come down to the junior clubs as well.
Sounds like there's plenty of,opportunities around the place.
(32:04):
If I was about to start being anumpire, what about my level of fitness?
pretty much all umpiring clubshave a, we have a running program.
and I would encourage peopleto have a decent base level
of fitness to start with.
our modified rules are junior games.
So the Year 3 to 6s, they are allModified System, and that is going
to be pretty much state, or at leastwithin Perth metro region, that's
(32:28):
going to be metro region wide, whereall Year 3 to Year 6 games will only
have the one field umpire on them.
Umpires just starting mostgames will have coach with them.
sometimes If they're lacking a bitof confidence, the coach may come
on the field and help them out.
those games each quarter is 15 so it'san hour long, and you need to be able
to keep up with play in those games.
(32:49):
It is smaller ground, younger agegroups, so the kicks don't go as
far, but if you're able to run for60 minutes and a constant run, so if
you're just going for a long run anytime, That's a decent base, as long as
you're constantly able to keep moving.
and then, older games, theirquarters range from 15 to 20 minutes.
(33:10):
it's a slightly bigger oval, butyou are with a partner, there is a
second umpire on the field with you.
so you essentially, control half theground, and then You hand it but you work
in tandem up and down the ground, at bothends so, it's not quite half each it's you
share some parts of the ground if you'reable to run for 60 minutes if it's a jog
(33:33):
if you can just keep moving for a decentlength of time even if you want to break
it up into two thirties, have a drink,have a break one aspect of any footy game
is there are quarter breaks and half timebreaks for you to be able to recover.
which is great.
refuel, get the nutrition back so it isimportant to have the base level fitness,
but if you are joining an umpiring club,right at the start of the season we
(33:55):
all have our pre-season time like anyfootball club so it's pre season there's
a heavy focus on running to get fit, toget in shape for the start of the season.
So if you're joining right at thestart, and you're not quite sure how
to follow a running program we'll havea running program ready just follow
along, which I find personally it'sso much easier running with a group of
(34:16):
people than it is if you're trying tofollow a program by yourself, especially
if there's a harder session where it'srepeat sprints, if you have a group
of people, friends that you're runningthat, running session with, it's a lot
easier than trying to do it by yourself.
so join at the start of the season,get into the running program right
at the start, find new people, makesome new friends, the fitness isn't
(34:38):
much of an issue as you're starting.
Is there any particularequipment that you need?
Yep, it does depend on each club andwhat each club provides, obviously you
need a whistle, that's really important,last year at Perth, all umpires who
paid their fees, we gave all of them awhistle and a pair of socks, for game
(34:59):
day, so it does depend on each club, buta whistle is very important, in terms of
equipment, speak with your local club.
what they are providing you andwhat you need to get yourself.
most of the time you willneed to get the uniform.
So there's an on field uniform, whatyou wear during the game, an off field
uniform, what you wear to and fromthe game, a good pair of sneakers or
(35:20):
boots, I have a few pairs of shoes thatI use, what do you call them, flats,
just really good running shoes I usethem, I'd say 80 percent of the year,
We're very fortunate in Perth where Ican wear flats and essentially sneakers
to most games, and I really recommend.
When I first started, I was justwearing my footy boots because I was,
(35:42):
uh, footy, you're running around,you're changing direction all the time.
I was comfortable in boots, andso I was umpiring in boots, which
were fine, and boots are required.
If you're going to goal umpire or bootsare required if it's a really wet and
muddy day, and you might be on the groundwhere it doesn't drain too well, so you
need boots just so you don't slip over.
(36:04):
but 80 of the time, Iwear running sneakers.
and if you're just starting and youwant something really comfortable,
sneakers are, if you've got a goodpair of sneakers, really important.
So the main equipment is on field, offfield uniform, which asks you what you
like a club about, the whistle, and reallycomfy shoes to be able to run around in.
So, not too much really, the, one I didn'tthink about, of course, was the, the
(36:27):
uniform, but, that's an important part ofbeing identifiable on the field, isn't it?
Yeah, a uniform's really important.
some clubs will provideparts of the uniform.
and then other equipment you mightneed is the red and yellow cards.
sweatbands and things like thisyou'll most likely find at your
umpiring Club, but have a chat to your
umpire manager.
and then also we haveuniforms for at training.
(36:49):
so we have a sense of team,like any football club.
every umpire club hastheir training uniform.
this is both at juniorand at the WAFL level.
and it creates a really niceteam environment, each week.
You'll learn the ruleson the go, won't you?
Yeah, we've got a foundations ofumpiring course that all new umpires
will complete, we run this at training,so you attend training sessions,
(37:12):
you go through the course, and thatprovides the very, very foundations,
the very basics, such as positioning.
it takes us four weeks,we go through a course.
and each club will run a similarcourse to this, um, before you start.
So you, you have the, the basic knowledgeand then a, a lot of the learning comes
(37:32):
from during games or after a game.
especially when you're first starting.
It is hard to replicatea footy game at training.
It's very difficult, especiallywith all the contacts.
We're trying to not have any injuriesat training, So drills at training and
skills at training we are focused on.
A lot of it is learnt duringa game and after a game.
(37:54):
Fortunately there's more and moreresources for us to use and so we do have
some older footage of some junior gameswhere we Essentially watch back some
decisions, go through some processes, andwe run through, what the decision was,
was it correct, how you go about makingthe correct decision, what you're looking
for, those resources are growing, whichis great, and so there is a lot to be
(38:17):
learned at training, but a lot, of yourlearning is at a game with a coach, and
talking through each decision and whatyou look for, your cues, and everything.
well, thank you very much, Blake, forbeing on Forrest.Chat, there's certainly
a lot to being a football umpire.
And all Forrest.Chat listeners wish youall the best with your future endeavours.
(38:41):
Thank you, Paul.
it's been great to bea part of Forrest.Chat.
It's been great to talk about myumpire journey, and current experience.
And, yeah, I really encourageanyone wanting to get involved.
into football umpiring, wanting to be apart of football still, become an umpire.
It's great fun watching the gamesand being a part of the game still.
It is the best seat in the house.
(39:03):
It's a lot better thanbeing 50, 100 metres away.
on the sidelines, you can get in niceand close to the action, and be a part
of it still, so it is 100 percent thebest seat in the house, so, anyone
out there, yeah, give umpiring a go.
Sounds like a great recommendation.
You've been listening to Forrest.Chat,where we talk about individual endeavour
(39:24):
in Western Australia, what it takes,what it means, and how you do it.
I'm your host, Paul van der Mey, andin today's episode, we talked with
Blake Glossop about football umpiring.
Remember, there are four ways toget involved with Forrest.Chat.
Share the domain, Forrest.Chat, with yourfriends and family and people you meet.
(39:46):
When you subscribe, you getadvance notice of episodes.
Listen to the episodes atForrest.Chat slash episodes.
If you do something that otherpeople may find interesting,
book an interview at Forrest.
Chat slash interview.
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Forrest.Chat slash advert.
(40:07):
I'm looking forward to joiningyou with our next guest.
Until next time, enjoy making it happen.
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