Tyla and Brock Reid will create Ballarat Football Umpires Association history when the brothers make their senior field umpiring debuts on the weekend.
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In the Ballarat Football Umpires Association 100-plus year history, never have two brothers made their debuts as senior field umpires in the same round while Brock also equals the record as the youngest field umpire to make a BFL senior appearance.
18-year-old Tyla has been appointed to the Ballarat versus Redan Senior match while 16-year-old Brock will adjudicate the East Point versus Lake Wendouree clash.
Brock has risen his way up the BFUA ranks over the past two years while Tyla, who has umpired for three years, has 12 months of senior umpire experience under his belt in the Central Highlands and Maryborough Castlemaine District Football League and umpired last year’s BFL under-18 grand final.
Both boys played football in the junior ranks, but once Tyla made the switch to umpiring to stay involved with the game, Brock saw how much his brother was enjoying it and followed suit.
The brothers’ passion for umpiring is evident and both have ambitions to umpire at a higher level, potentially in the AFL if all goes to plan.
Both boys are looking forward to their senior debuts, the duo recalling how far they’ve come over the years.
“We love it...we’re definitely a lot more confident than when we first started,” Brock said.
“We’ve got a lot of help from some of the older and more experienced guys,” Tyla added.
It is great to see two youngsters so dedicated to umpiring, while they admit they still cop a bit of flack, they talk about it with half a grin – the usual “feedback” they receive over the fence simply water off a ducks back for the brothers.
Brock will also head to Cairns over the school holidays to umpire two matches when AFL Goldfields heads north. Tyla did the same role last year and said it was an “amazing” experience and his little brother is pumped to do the same.
Ballarat Football Umpires Association senior field coach Roger Le Grand said the boys debuting on the same weekend was completely coincidental and said it came about from plenty of hard work and their promising form.