The anticipation for the start of the 2023 Eastern Football Netball League season continues to grow as we edge closer to April 1st.
For any season to run successfully, it’s vital to have a strong number of umpires each season. There’s been an added focus on Umpire registration numbers this year with the league having a bigger increase of new and existing umpires from this time, last year.
Not only has there been a bigger push from the league, but also some of its clubs.
In December last year, the North Ringwood Junior Football Club set up an initiative to increase their representation of junior umpires in the league. For players at the club that registered to be an umpire in 2023, the club would take their parents’ registration money from 2022 and re-gift that payment as a voucher.
Secretary of the North Ringwood Junior Football Club, Tammie Palmer explained the importance of the initiative for the club in its hopes to assist the league.
“With the lack of umpires last year, we just wanted to get ahead and have our own club umpires ready to go on the off-chance that we had a last-minute game with no umpires,” Palmer said.
“As a thank you for the end of the season, they can choose a 200-dollar gift card of their choice, whether it’s an EFTPOS or rebel or whatever they like, we’ll pay that out of club funds as a thank you.”
The initiative stemmed from club president Chris Leahy who put the idea to the committee, gaining full support.
“Chris umpired games and really enjoyed it and the whole idea behind it was to keep pushing umpires forward so that each game is played, someone has an umpire, at least one.”
“It’s our way to try and assist football going forward to make it a little easier for everyone.”
North Ringwood has one of the biggest junior clubs in the league with a great representation of junior umpires.
Head of Junior Umpiring Sean Clarke is thrilled with the club initiative as numbers continue to grow.
“From a league perspective, it helps build our numbers for this season. If we can get them in and engage them, it provides us with a base to launch for future years,” Clarke said.
“It gives us a group of kids that are going to spread throughout their own club and we’ll probably find a lot more positive approach to umpires during the season.”
The EFNL Umpiring group has always been a tight-knit group that has been very welcoming to new umpires.
“We want people to come to a club that they feel safe in an environment that’s welcoming, they feel like they belong, and they feel valued in what they’re doing.”
If you’re interested in joining the league as an umpire, there’s still time to register. Follow the links below to find out more information about what it’s like to work as an EFNL umpire and why you should consider registering for the 2023 season.
Registration Link HERE: https://membership.mygameday.app/regoform.cgi?formID=105628
For more information about becoming an umpire, view HERE: https://efnl.org.au/faq-becoming-an-umpire/
