FOOTBALL

UMPIRES

BY BLAKE METCALF-HOLT

 

THROWING the ball up to begin last Saturday’s North Gippsland Football-Netball League senior match between Cowwarr and Yarram marked a momentous moment.

It served as the first time in Gippsland history that a senior football match was ran by an all-female umpiring team.

From boundary umpires to goals to field umpires, the Sale Umpires Association were rightfully the ones to complete this milestone, due to recent efforts building up its women and girls base.

Ashleigh Lovas, who serves as Women and Girls Liaison Officer at SUA and was one of the goal umpires during the historic day, said the association has been heavily focussed on recruiting those within the community in recent years.

The Sale umpiring fraternity now has upwards of 20 female umpires, reflecting around a 20 per cent growth in the last four years.

“We’ve always had some women and girls umpires. I know when I first started, there was four or five of us,” Lovas said.

“With the AFL making it really prominent to advertise a women and girls space and do (exclusive) ‘come and try’ hubs … that’s helped.”

While all-female umpiring panels have been seen in junior and reserves matches, as well as last year’s Female Football Gippsland senior women’s grand final, never has this happened in the main game on a Saturday afternoon.

The two field umpires at Cowwarr Recreation Reserve at the weekend, Teagan Sheldon and Tracey West, both fielded the FFG women’s decider.

Sheldon, who has umpired since she was 12-years-old across the Eastern FNL, Northern FNL and the VAFA, said outside of last year’s grand final, she’s never been a part of an all-female umpiring panel.

“It’s something huge for me. I’ve been a part of footy for a long, sort of up through the ranks, playing and everything,” she said in the lead-up to the game.

“It’s proving to a lot of people that girls and women can do it too.”

Sheldon moved to Gippsland in 2024, and was attracted to SUA due to the promotion they were doing in this space.

“The emphasis that Sale have put on their women and girls because they’ve been able to get two qualified field umpires to run a senior men’s game, which is nothing short of incredible as it is,” she added.

“The camaraderie between the girls has been something really, really good to see.

“But honestly, a lot of that camaraderie is just with the men as well, because they’re just pushing all the girls up and through. So, it’s really good to have that support all around.”

SUA also secured it’s first-ever female member of its executive committee in recent years being Terese Bailey.