Sport
14 July, 2022
Carisbrook launch campaign to strengthen player/umpire relationship
A major talking point throughout the 2022 football season at all grades has been the relationship between players and umpires, which has prompted Carisbrook Football Netball Club to educate all members about respect in both football and netball...
A major talking point throughout the 2022 football season at all grades has been the relationship between players and umpires, which has prompted Carisbrook Football Netball Club to educate all members about respect in both football and netball games.
The Redbacks were prompted to start their campaign after their involvement in an incident last month, which, as a result, has been well received by all members of the club.
Carisbrook women’s football co-ordinator Jo Butler was behind the campaign, bringing together members of coaching staff, volunteers, spectators and players across their football and netball teams to buy in to ensure they would call out members of the club, as well as opposition, in an effort to reduce umpire abuse at games.
“We had an incident at one of our games, which is what prompted me to take this on and do something about it and try and make something that our whole club, across football and netball, don’t tolerate anymore,” Butler said.
“As players and supporters, we’ve been asked 1000 times to respect them over the years, and we just haven’t.
“What I wanted to do is take it further than just the players. Probably the worst abuse comes from the coaching staff, the volunteers and spectators. I feel like half the time, people don’t realise they are doing it — it feels like a habit that they’re doing.
“What we decided to do — and I approached the league about it — was to have a whole campaign to not just stop doing it ourselves, but to call people out that we see doing it.
“The league is really keen to hear more about what we are doing. It will be an ongoing thing — I feel like when it’s brought to their attention, they all feel like it’s the right thing to do.”
Butler has been involved in the creation of posters on the club’s social media pages, which will also be on display around the clubrooms.
“We have posters with personalities from Carisbrook that we’ll put up in our new facility when it’s finished at the end of the year, and that will be a big part of getting people to understand that we’re serious — it’s not just something we’re going to pay lip service for,” she said.
Head of Umpiring Operations at Ballarat Umpires, Billy Mitchell, has been impressed by Carisbrook’s initiative to ensure the respect between clubs and umpires on match day.
“It’s hugely important to take initiative,” he said.
“Normally it’s a top-down message that comes from the AFL, sometimes from the local leagues promoting the message, but to see the clubs promoting the grassroots respect is super important as they have the most influence over the environment at their club.
“To see Carisbrook taking hold of it and sending a positive message is great.
“We have a fairly open channel of communication with all clubs and leagues — we’ve been in constant dialogue about rule changes.
“One of the big ones this year was the interpretation of the dissent rule, so we’ve been in constant communication with coaches and clubs about how they should interpret those rules, and if they have any questions, they’re more than welcome to contact us.”
Mitchell also discussed how games have been affected in the Maryborough Castlemaine District Football Netball League this season, and steps that they’ve taken to keep a dialogue with clubs.
“We’ve had a 10 percent decrease in numbers compared to our last full season in 2019, so we have seen a slight dip, but we’ve recruited quite heavily to combat that. However, a 10 percent decrease in umpire numbers will have an impact on the ground,” he said.
“We’ve had some Maryborough Castlemaine games which have gone without umpires, including field umpires, which is a first in a long time.
“At times, we’ve had umpires go out to clubs and chat about rules and things they’re concerned about. We’re really keen to break down that barrier even further and keep that dialogue open so relations between players, clubs and the umpires is a positive one.”
Butler outlined the steps the club has taken to ensure everyone there is on board with their campaign.
“The first thing we did was get all of the coaching staff on-board, who’ll address teams before games,” she said.
“We actually got both teams and supporters to come round in our first Lady Redbacks game after we made the pact, and made a speech with coaching staff and umpires present to pledge that we’d stamp out the umpire abuse — it must be terrible when you go to work and you know you’re going to get abused for two hours.
“Umpires have to make split decisions on the spot, and even if they make mistakes, which happens, we have to wear it — there’s no games without them.
“But also, it’s not just umpires. We’d also like people to feel uncomfortable about players and coaching staff getting abused. We feel it’s something that shouldn’t be part of the game any more.”
Already, the pact has made an impact around Carisbrook — and visiting teams and umpires have been very quick to notice the attitude towards the campaign.
“We’ve already seen it start to happen at Carisbrook — we’ve seen senior players get pulled aside by board members and being told that it’s not on, and that they’ll be benched if they do it, as well as supporters calling out other supporters and telling them that we don’t tolerate it,” Butler said.
“The umpires approached our senior team and spoke to the coaching staff in one of the last couple of games, telling them it was the most pleasant game they’ve umpired in a long time. It’s working.”