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Our junior umpires deserve our respect

 

 

 

 

 

INSIDE THE FALCONS: with Bill Monaghan

The last thing we need, as parents or spectators at junior sport, is to be giving umpires a hard time and turn them away from our game.

At community level, especially, where there are so many young kids who umpire, we need to be mindful of their efforts and time they put into umpiring and show them more respect that we do at community level.

I have two boys aged 16 and 10 and I get frustrated watching sport at junior level where people are not very understanding that these kids are kids with parents in the crowd too.

They tend to give them serves and they are only learning the game like the kids that are playing and make mistakes with their kicking and marking.

Most people go to the football at any level and concentrate a fair bit on what the umpires are doing.

Not enough people go there and appreciate that the kids are just trying to play the game and the young boys and girls are just trying to officiate the best way they can.

It seems to be a cultural thing where, over a number of years, people get used to yelling out and giving the umpire a serve, not because they believe it’s the right thing to do, it just becomes a habit.

New umpires wear green shirts when they are starting out and I think that is a good initiative because it should allow people to ease back a bit.

The hard thing about community level is that everyone wants their kid to get a kick and be the best player, and if an umpire doesn’t give him the ball, I guess that is where it starts.

West Perth in particular, does a great job with Football for Mums or the Indigenous Program at the local high school.

We’ve also started a parent umpire program, which I think is invaluable because what it’s done is get people who sit on the sidelines to get out there and actually do it themselves.

Courtesy of the Joondalup Weekender, 3rd June 2010