In 2012, the slogan was utilised as the key idea in umpire recruitment within South Australia and has continued on in 2013. The idea continues to be presented to football clubs and schools with encouraging results.

At the end of Season 2012, 44% of umpires in Saturday morning school competitions and Sunday junior district leagues around Adelaide also played the game. Similar results are expected from the continued efforts in this area in 2013.

This success rate in recruitment can be related directly with the concept of “Play one day, umpire the next” as it communicates to the players that there are opportunities to umpire without giving up playing football, allowing the players to gain the various advantages of umpiring: Fitness, develop leadership and confidence, develop a greater understanding of the laws of the game and get paid cash for it.

Utilising these benefits and the slogan “Play one day, Umpire the next” it has significantly increased the interest in umpiring from players and other supporters of the game. 

The South Australian National Football League plans to continue to utilise the use of the slogan and continue to utilise it as an effective way to communicate to the players that it is possible to “Play one day and umpire the next”. 

In the time I have been around umpiring and football groups there is never a shortage of injuries. Injury is usually bad for two reasons.  Firstly, the regrettable reason; injury is generally avoidable and occurs as a result of some training deficiency or weakness.  And secondly, the demoralising reason: injury always strikes at inconvenient times.  You can be just starting to see some gains from your training, or attempting to peak your training coming into finals and then, seemingly out of nowhere, you suffer an injury that puts you in rehab for a period of time. This process probably sounds really familiar to most footballers and umpires; you attempt to keep your body match-ready for as much as the season as possible, if an injury occurs, that’s just part of training.  I guess it’s from this attitude that the whole ‘prehab’ concept grew.  All athletes are interested in injury prevention, but few athletes actively incorporate injury prevention exercises into their everyday training program.  I’m the first one to admit that the name ‘prehab’ sounds like a fad.  It sounds like a nice way to put a spin on reverse rehab, but when you stop and think about the concept, it’s no joke.  

‘Prehab’ is the name given to a serious of prescribed exercises, movements and/or activities designed to address muscle imbalances and weaknesses in athletes of all shapes and sizes. What does it aim to do?  Prevent injuries before they happen. What are some examples of prehab exercises?   Core stability, balance work, self-managed remedial massage.

Who can assess me for prehab?   Depending on your knowledge of your training program and your body’s response to exercise, you may be able to self-assess and write your own prehab program.  However, it’s best if you have someone from a sports therapy background to assess you and prescribe your prehab exercises.  This same person can review you prehab program, when required.

Think about the weaknesses and imbalances that currently exist in your body as a result of your training program.  You have natural strengths and weaknesses, and then there are the strengths you build into your body as a result of the specifics of your training program.  It’s a fact of training that with every strength- based movement, there is an imbalance waiting to happen unless you devote an equivalent amount of time and effort to addressing that weakness and imbalance.  

Footballers and umpires of all levels should include prehab as part of their regular training program.  Any repetitive movement, such as running/sprinting, field bounces for field umpires, kicking a football, flag waving for goal umpires, may cause tightness of muscle groups, imbalances of strength, coordination and/or muscle stabilisation.  Ideally, prehab exercises are to be performed before the commencement of a training session, i.e. before warm-up.  Alternatively, mini prehab workouts can be completed by an athlete throughout the body of a training session, for example, while waiting for a turn in a drill.  Prehab session can also be a standalone workout to be completed during team travel stops and/or recovery days.

The challenge is to stay motivated with prehab exercises.  On the surface, these exercise are not as fun as regular training; additionally, it’s sometimes not fun training the weak parts of your body.  But staying motivated is the difference between success and failure with your prehab routine.  If I had it my way with injuries, I would rather catch every injury before it surfaces. 

AFLNT Umpiring Manager Mark Noonan organised the recent live-in camp so young Territorians could experience a learning environment that would assist them in their future development as an umpire.

Mark stated “It is great to see so many junior umpires from across the Northern Territory coming together building new relationships and working together. The AFLNT Junior Umpiring Academy is not just about umpiring games, but giving them the tools to help become better young people on and off the field”.

The camp comprised of sessions including Nutrition, Recovery, Goal Setting, Fitness Testing, as well as umpiring some games of football. The highlight of the weekend was a visit from AFL Umpires Brendan Hosking, Jonathon Creasey and Chris Appleton, who were in Darwin to officiate in the Western Bulldogs v Port Adelaide game. The AFL Umpires really enjoyed the Q&A session and spent dinner with the young umpires discussing all things AFL Umpiring.

The conclusion of the camp saw the umpires attend the NEAFL Curtain Raiser (where an Academy participant boundary umpired the game), as well as the AFL match. Two members of the Academy were fortunate enough to be selected to be ball stewards.

Next step for some of the umpires will be selection for the National School Championships held in Darwin in August and hopefully we will be seeing some of them umpiring NEAFL and AFL football in the not too distant future.

Remember, if you know of any potential future umpires, you are never too young or too old to take up umpiring. Please direct them to your State Umpiring Development Manager for more information.

There are many questions an umpire must consider when interpreting holding the ball situations.

The Spirit of the Laws are distributed at all levels of football to assist umpires in achieving consistency and accuracy in their decision making.

When considering tackling and holding the ball situations the Spirit of the Laws firstly outlines that the tackle must be legal.

“For a holding the ball free kick to be awarded, the tackle must be legal.”

Once it has been determined that a tackle is legal the umpire should consider whether the player has elected to dive on the ball.

In relation to diving on the ball the Spirit of the Laws explain that “the ball shall be kept in motion”.

Where a player elects to dive on the ball or elects to drag the ball underneath their body and is correctly tackled, the player is to be penalised for holding the ball if they fail to knock the ball clear or correctly dispose of it.

If the player hasn’t dived on the ball then the umpire needs to consider whether they have had prior opportunity to dispose of the ball.  

The Spirit of the Laws explain that if the player who has possession of the ball has not had prior opportunity to dispose of the ball prior to being tackled correctly they should be “given a reasonable opportunity to make a genuine attempt to kick or handball the ball”.

If the tackle pins the ball and a genuine attempt is made to dispose of the ball, a field bounce will result. 

If a correct tackle or bump causes the player with the ball to lose possession, play on will result.

However, where a player “has had prior opportunity to dispose and is then correctly tackled by an opponent they must immediately and successfully kick or handball the ball”.

And in these situations if a correct tackle pins the ball or causes the player with the ball to lose possession, a free kick will result. 

However, if a bump or knock to the arm causes the player with the ball to lose possession, play on will result.

Strategies to assist the interpretation of holding the ball were as follows; 

It is also important that umpires use correct terms in explaining the holding the ball process.  For example, “you had prior opportunity and didn’t legally dispose of the ball” or “you didn’t make a genuine attempt to dispose of the ball”.