Trailblazer Eleni Glouftsis rising through the AFL umpiring ranks
ELENI Glouftsis had just finished another busy day at school when she closed her books, picked up her whistle and hurried to get to football umpire’s training in Melbourne.
ELENI Glouftsis had just finished another busy day at school when she closed her books, picked up her whistle and hurried to get to football umpire’s training in Melbourne.
It’s a month before Christmas and the AFL’s players — both male and female — aren’t the only ones slugging their way through the first part of pre-season.
For emerging central umpire Glouftsis, that’s on top of a full-time job as a health and PE teacher at St Bernard’s College and studying to complete her Masters in educational leadership.
“It’s very busy,” she said.
“Making sure everything is done right for school while trying to further my umpiring career, so it can be challenging at times but it’s rewarding.”
Waiting for Glouftsis at pre-season training this night is a 3km time trial followed by six two-minute interval efforts.
“We’re told to treat our time trials as just like another training session which is great because every session we should be going out as hard as we can,” she said.
A typical Tuesday or Thursday for the 24-year-old involves teaching all day then getting to umpire’s training by 5.15pm.
A session usually starts with coaching from Hayden Kennedy, followed by pattern running, skill drills with whistles, bouncing and decision making practice.
Then they’re into the gym for strength work and finish off with ice baths and massage until 8pm.
Outside of that, Glouftsis practices bouncing the ball as often as she can.
“You’ve got to keep practising it, unfortunately it’s not like riding a bike, I’ll generally go out myself once a week and have a bounce and in the season I’ll go out the day before a game just to get the body ready for it,” she said.
“It’s generally been one of my strengths. There have been a couple of times this season where I think I got a bit tired but overall I’m generally pretty solid.”
Every week during the season she will also have an extensive review of her game-day performance with a specialist coach who last year was retired umpire Stephen McBurney and this year was AFL umpires assistant Michael Jennings.
“We go through video footage and feedback,” Glouftsis said.
“And the great thing about having a one-on-one coach is they see you from week to week, they look at different trends that are happening rather than one-off games.
“The real obvious ones (mistakes) you know, you don’t necessarily need to talk about them much.
“It’s the ones you’re not sure that you’ve made the wrong decision that you need to talk about.”
Glouftsis is two years into a three-year AFL Female Pathway scholarship which in 2014 saw her move from her home city of Adelaide to Melbourne to chase her umpiring dream.
“I moved purely for football and I was a bit hesitant. I’d been working my first year (in Adelaide) as a teacher and had a really great job,” she said.
“So it was a big step moving from Adelaide where all my friends and family were.”
She found umpiring while in Year 9 when there was an article in the newsletter about a basic umpire’s course.
At the time she was playing footy at school and was a regular spectator at games, although she won’t say who she either used to or still does barrack for.
“There’s no point talking about it anymore,” she says, moving on quickly.
“My dad had umpired for one season and mum had umpired a little bit of netball so they suggested I give it a go.
“I’d always played football at school and loved football so much, so it was just another way to be involved.
“Once I started umpiring I found it was a really great way to keep fit, make friends and earn pocket money while I was at school.
“So my passion kind of grew from there and being involved in football in any way possible was a highlight for me.”
When she started umpiring in 2008 with the North Eastern Junior Football Association there was only one other girl in the program but Glouftsis wasn’t deterred.
She rose through the SANFL ranks from under-16s and 18s to reserves and in 2013 became the first female to officiate an SANFL league match between North Adelaide and Glenelg.
Since moving to Melbourne with the AFL she has worked her way through the VFL’s reserves to senior level and this year became the first female central umpire in an official AFL match between Essendon and Carlton in the pre-season competition.
Naturally, Glouftsis is seen as a trailblazer in umpiring ranks but after a decade involved in the game she has never felt like she was ‘different’ and nor does she wanted to be treated that way.
“There’s definitely been challenges but again, a lot of those challenges are just part of being an umpire,” she said.
“You have to have a thick skin regardless but it’s not that often about my gender, it’s more about decisions.
“The main challenges I had over the years in terms of being a female are just simple things like uniforms not really being catered to a female and changerooms, but they didn’t really bother me on the whole.
“On the field there’s been a few people who don’t always agree with a female but they don’t always agree with an umpire at the best of times.
“Overall the players have been really supportive and I’ve been really lucky to be in a supportive community.
“The thing I have benefited from in being a female is being part of the female scholarship with the AFL which is fantastic, but having said that this is my 11th season of umpiring so I’ve still worked hard to get to the position I’m in.”
Glouftsis’ rise to umpiring at AFL level coincides with women now having the chance to play the game at the highest level as well in the first national competition next year.
Had the AFL women’s competition been around five years ago Glouftsis would have strongly considered playing but not now.
“If it was like the way it is now, potentially I’d be playing instead of umpiring. I loved playing but there wasn’t the pathway at the time,” she said.
“And in hindsight I’m glad I went with umpiring.
“I love playing but I’m so, so lucky to be in this position with an AFL scholarship.
“I’ve had a chat with a few of the girls who did get drafted and they said ‘come out for a kick even when you’re retired’ but for now umpiring is my sole focus.”
As she prepares for her third season in Melbourne, Glouftsis remains bullish about her ambitions for next year.
“My goals will be the same as this year — keep progressing as much as possible with my fitness and umpiring to be at the point where they have to pick me because I’m showing enough experience and the right skills to say I’m good enough for AFL.”