Round Seven of the 2015 Toyota AFL Premiership Season has been designated Community Umpiring Round with the aim to encourage people to get involved in umpiring Australian Football at the grassroots level.
Umpires at each AFL match this weekend will be led on to the ground by four first-year community umpires, giving them a taste of the elite match day experience and demonstrating the opportunities that are available through umpiring.
AFL National Head of Umpiring Wayne Campbell said football at all levels is continually seeking more umpires to cover the growing numbers of games played every weekend.
“Community Umpiring Round is about recognising all the umpires who do such a great job at community level to allow our game to be as great as it is.
“Umpiring is a critical part of the game to allow the players to play our spectacular game on a level and safe playing field.
“Umpiring offers opportunities for people from all backgrounds and all ages. We have recently launched a new program to introduce umpiring to people from multicultural and indigenous backgrounds,” he said.
Umpires will be interviewed on the scoreboards at AFL matches in Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne this weekend.
More information is available at afl.com.au/umpires . This site includes information on how to become an umpire along with resources to assist learning the role of the umpire.
AFL Umpires have launched a new marketing campaign. It can be seen here: getinthegame.com.au
