One in five community umpires have experienced physical abuse, a new study has found. Are body cams part of the solution?

A new study has found one in five community Australian rules umpires have experienced some form of physical abuse, prompting calls for umpires to trial wearing body cams.

Long-time umpires surveyed by University of South Australia researchers believed abuse was on the rise.

A new study has found one in five community Australian rules umpires have experienced some form of physical abuse, prompting calls for umpires to trial wearing body cams.

Invasion of personal space, pushing or punching were considered physical abuse in the study, which was conducted by Dr Jamie Cleland and Dr Alyson Crozier from the University of South Australia.

Dr Crozier said a “holistic view and systematic approach” was needed to approach the issue of umpire abuse, but noted that the introduction of body cams could certainly be one aspect of a potential solution.

“The biggest solution is to have a cultural shift and make it unacceptable,” Dr Crozier, who is an expert in sport psychology, said.

“In terms of being able to report and trying to reduce incidents, if people know they’re being watched through a body cam they’re often less likely to act in inappropriate ways.

“Body cams have been trialled in soccer so it’s something that could come to other sporting codes as well.”

In April, Football Victoria launched a body cam pilot program for referees in grassroots football following a successful trial in 2023.

FV reported that 66.1 per cent of referees reported improved player behaviour during the 2023 body cam trial and 57.1 per cent believed the cameras reduced abuse.

“Importantly, no physical abuse incidents occurred during that period, despite over half of participating referees having previously experienced such behaviour,“ a FV statement read.

The trial contained strict protocols, with the cameras only activated in “exceptional circumstances”.

Verbal warnings about activating the camera often helped referees de-escalate situations.

“It’s one part of the potential solution,” Dr Crozier said.

“We need to have this holistic view and systematic approach from club level, from league level, all the way down to players, coaches, spectators and getting them on board.”

More than 350 community Australian rules umpires were surveyed between 2021 and 2022 as part of the UniSA study with the findings only just released.

Of respondents, 80 per cent umpired community senior football, while 12 per cent officiated junior community football with a further eight per cent in state league or talent pathway competitions.

One in five umpires surveyed said they experienced verbal abuse every game, while 38 per cent noted verbal abuse was encountered at least a couple of times a season.

“Sport is an emotional environment, when people become too emotional it can lead to these abusive actions,” Dr Crozier said.

While Dr Crozier said there was no concrete data to demonstrate a rise in cases of umpire abuse, she said long-time umpires surveyed had anecdotally seen abusive incidences on the rise.

Umpires surveyed came from junior and senior community football, as well as state leagues and talent pathways.

“I don’t know the reasons why it’s increased, part of why we might know more about it is because of social media, people take out their phones when there’s an incident and record it and post it, we’re probably seeing more of it on social media,” Dr Crozier said.

“A few of the umpires did mention they had seen or experienced an increase.”

This year, the Bendigo Umpires Association in conjunction with AFL Central Victoria wrote an open letter to clubs calling out umpire abuse of officials as young as 12, and warning that clubs may have to provide their own umpires in future.

The Essendon District Football League has also sent a memo to clubs that umpires could call off games or refuse to officiate certain teams following a number of concerning incidents.

One senior community football umpire surveyed had said: “I was threatened with my life this year and the league did nothing about it”.

Another said he was assaulted by a spectator two years ago and was left “disappointed” that only a one-year ban from attending games was handed down.

“Most of our umpires knew the process to report which was great, many of them, I think around 60 or 65 per cent, felt supported through the process which was great,” Dr Crozier said.

“But one thing they felt disappointed in was often the consequence they felt didn’t reflect the extent of the abuse.

“They were satisfied with the support they received through the process but not necessarily the outcome.

“Having heavier penalties, that was one lots of umpires suggested, having heavier fines and penalties in general, whether that’s monetary fines or penalties within the game.

“The example we discussed was in 2022 when the 50m dissent rule came in, umpires commented that they saw a noticeable reduction in verbal abuse coming from players.”

Another suggested solution from the researchers was the use of mobile apps to report incidents immediately after a match.

“(Umpires) might be able to get spectators or others who have witnessed (abuse) to report through that app,” Dr Crozier said.

“In order for there to be consequence to the abuser there has to be evidence, so having a real time reporting app can support that occurring.”

Dr Crozier noted that cases of abuse could take a “psychological toll” and impact the mental health of umpires.

“It can impact whether they enjoy umpiring, which can lead to us losing umpires completely from the game.”

Originally published as One in five community umpires have experienced physical abuse, a new study has found. Are body cams part of the solution?