By Sam McClure
Senior umpires have been left angered and frustrated after being told by the AFL they would not be able to train at the league-owned Marvel Stadium this week because the ground’s turf was being relaid.
In a week dominated by a controversial non-decision in Gold Coast’s nail-biting one-point win over Adelaide, which the AFL has since clarified was the incorrect call, field umpires were unable to train at all. Goal umpires were moved to Scotch College in Hawthorn, where there are no female change rooms and no lights, meaning training has been shifted forward and the only female goal umpire had to wait for the rooms to be vacated before she could get changed and prepare to train.
AFL umpires walk out onto the MCG for Melbourne’s match with GWS earlier this year.Credit: AFL Photos
Tensions have been building for years within umpiring ranks over the league’s refusal to offer the cohort a permanent training base, which has resulted in training sessions taking place in a variety of locations, including at local soccer grounds underneath the West Gate Bridge.
“The game has been going for 150 years, and yet we never saw fit to provide a permanent base for umpires,” umpires association boss Rob Kerr told this masthead.
“Facilities for umpires have been a major issue for a while now.
“It’s the first CBA where we have had minimum conditions agreed upon for facilities, and Scotch doesn’t meet those, including access to male and female change rooms and no lights.
The yellow Sherrin is bounced into the night sky at the MCG for Carlton’s clash with Hawthorn.Credit: AFL Photos
“I’ve had the conversation with the AFL and the facility is not suitable. We’ve asked the AFL to provide a venue that suits that meets the criteria.”
Australian Football Hall of Fame Legend Leigh Matthews hit out at the league last year, after this masthead revealed the lack of a permanent training base, labelling the treatment as “astounding and embarrassing”.
Chelsea Roffey is a 300-game goal umpire.Credit: AFL Photos
“The look of it is just terrible for the game – I find it hard to believe that this is the fact,” he said on 3AW.
Goal umpires trained at Scotch on Tuesday evening, while the field umpires were confined to the ARC after being told the turf was off limits.
Umpires received notification from the AFL this week that training would have to start earlier than usual because of the lack of stadium lighting at the school’s practice oval.
“The college does not have lights so it is important that these sessions get underway as close to 5.15pm as possible to make use of the daylight we have available,” the internal memo, seen by this masthead, read.
When contacted for comment, an AFL spokesperson said the league would make sure the umpires were back training at Marvel Stadium this week, but refused to comment on the record as to the impact of field umpires not being able to train at all this week.
The league conceded it was not ideal that the umpires only had access to the main oval change rooms, where there were no female change rooms.
On Tuesday night, the rooms had to be vacated by all men to allow Chelsea Roffey – the only Victorian female goal umpire – to get changed.
The AFL has been heavily criticised for admitting Izak Rankine should have received a free kick in the dying stages of the Crows’ loss to the Suns, with two-time Geelong premiership coach Chris Scott labelling it as “laughable.”
“What’s rare is that the AFL voluntarily come out and clarify it [costly late-game umpiring mistakes]. Most of the time that clarification happens behind closed doors,” Scott told reporters.
“The idea that this is a remarkable situation because a mistake was made in a close call, a 50-50, is laughable. Those sort of errors, when you get the benefit of slow motion replays and you say, ‘OK, based on what we can see now, that’s an error’ – that happens a lot. I don’t think you should isolate it and say, ‘Hey this is one of those ultra-rare examples where a team was cost a game.’
“So, I don’t understand the overreaction from the AFL, personally … I think they’ve got a choice. They can be completely transparent and clarify every single mistake, so everyone knows, or don’t do it at all. But when you cherry-pick examples because of public pressure, I think that’s an error.”
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