TOPIC:

Have herd that the WAAFL want neutral club umpires this year for all Grades below C2
Which means that each club will have to nominate an umpires to go into your grade pool
This would mean that your club umpire would not umpire your games
A umpire from the other teams in your grade would umpire your games

THIS WAY NO CLUB CAN COME BACK AND SAY THAT THE OTHER CLUB UMPIRE WAS A CHEAT

It will be brought up at the coming WAAFL AGM I here on the 18th February

What's your thoughts on this as not to many (Clubs) have put there thoughts forward

Bloody great idea, have been suggesting it for years. Downside is many clubby's will not want to travel to neutral venues as they like drinking and chatting with their club mates afterwards. Also then there is the payment issue of how this will be handled as differing rates of pay at different clubs. May loose a few club umps in the process but it will stop a lot of the complaints found on this forum against some of the more biased umpires getting around!

If the wheel aint broke don’t try and fix it. We all know it’s not the best system but it’s been going longer than anything else in its place.
The waafl have tried everything over the decades from compulsory accreditation of club umpires, getting the junior organisations umpires in and calling them Association umpires to club umpires umpiring different clubs. None of the above worked. Hardly anybody got accredited, the junior umpires couldn’t stand the player’s attitude and whinging with all of them quitting after one season and the booked umpires just went AWOL.
There are 3 types of club umpires.
The ex panel umpires who are too good for that level and your players, whose skill and fitness level are not up to scratch, start complaining.
The complete egotistical tossers who are in it for the money and the power.
And the one we all want. The retired club player, who still wants to hang around the club, will look after his mates with the whistle, spend what they get paid back over the bar and won’t take shit from the players. If the other team has a similar umpire then you know the free kick count will be all square by the end of the day. Just make sure your bloke umpires in their forward line for the last quarter.

Devonleigh if I read you correctly you are saying that panel umpires are all egotistical and in it for the money? Please correct me if I am wrong.

And NO we don't all want biased club umpires that only pay free kicks one way you muppet!!

My name is Colonel Jessop and I'm going to bust your ass from major to private and you want to know why?

To use the words in that movie they made about me:
Its not because you cant read a paragraph or count points from one to three its because:-

*you cant handle the truth*.

Son, we live in a world that has FOOTBALL CLUBS, and those FOOTBALL CLUBS have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for FAIR UMPIRING, and you curse CLUB ADMINISTRATORS. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That FAIR UMPIRING’S death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that FOOTBALL CLUB, you need me on that FOOTBALL CLUB. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post ON A FOOTBALL CLUB. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.

Our club umpire is very good and very fair - too fair. We get no benefits from him umpiring our games. Having said that, we have had some shocking club umpires - one in particular stands out head and shoulders above the rest for his cheating. Fortunately, his club was promoted three grades after the 2013 season and we were only promoted one. They will probably drop a grade this year and we may go up a grade and have to face him again. Don't look forward to it should it turn out that way.

This was discussed at last night's WAAFL AGM. The status quo is to remain for 2015, so no pooling of umpires this year.

However, the WAAFL have implemented an "Improve or Remove" policy in regards to club umpires. If complaints are received about a club umpire, a Club Umpires Coach will be sent to observe the umpire and provide feedback on areas of improvement. The umpire will then be given 4 to 5 weeks to work on these areas before a follow up observation. If no improvement is seen, then the club umpire will be asked to move on. It will then be the club's responsibility to find a replacement umpire for the remainder of the season.

Club umpires will also be required to complete the theory component of the Level 1 accreditation online and attend 3 PD sessions before June 30th in order to continue umpiring. One of these sessions will be a pre season induction, and the other two will be training sessions with the panel umpires at Hamer Park.

The accreditation, theory and practical, has been tried b4. The clubs just ignored it and their umpires came up with bullshit excuses why they couldn't attend.
Lets see if the WAAFL enforce it this time.