Ballarat Football Umpires Association senior field coach Roger Le Grand has called for players and spectators to take a second thought before abusing umpires as we near the end of the season, which he says has been the worst for umpire abuse in 10 years.
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As the stakes get higher in the region’s respective leagues as we deepen into the finals series, emotions and tensions heighten.
Le Grand understands the frustration and knows umpires will make mistakes throughout a match, but the personal, and as we’ve seen around the state at times – physical, attacks on umpires need to be addressed.
Le Grand is a father of three young children and he made the sad admission that he would not bring his children or wife to watch a game he was umpiring due to the offensive and unwarranted abuse that gets thrown over the fence. He stressed everyone was entitled to go to a game of football and cast an opinion on decisions, but it was the personal nature of the abuse that has got out of hands throughout the season.
“I’ve got three young kids, myself. Would I want to take them along to a game that I’m umpiring to watch me? No, I wouldn’t. And it’s because I’d be worried about some of the things that come over the fence towards me in front of my kids or my wife – that’s the issue for me,” Le Grand said.
“The last 10 years the conditions for umpires has improved markedly...but this year, I don’t know why, but it’s been a lot worse in Ballarat for incident involving poor behavior towards umpires.
“We’ll make mistakes...but we don’t make mistakes because we deliberately want to penalise one team. No one wants to stop your right to be critical of a free kick, just don’t make the attack personal.
“It’s someone’s mum, someone’s dad, someone’s brother, someone’s sister – they’re everyday Ballarat people. Next time you’re at the football and you’re attacking or abusing the umpire personally, give some thought to who’s standing next to you...it could be the children or the brother and sister or the mum or dad of the umpire out on the ground.”
Le Grand added the importance of thinking twice before unleashing at the football given the increase of youth in the umpire ranks.
The BFUA has made a deliberate effort to recruit younger people into umpiring to ensure its longevity, but the difficult environment these youngsters are often placed in is making it tougher to retain their services.
“Our group is significantly younger this year than it has been in previous years and that’s been quite a conscious decision. But you can lose them just as fast with things that are happening on the field.”
