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GFL umpires in early push to boost 2024 numbers

Neale HarveyKalgoorlie Miner
Goldfields Football League umpires Kayla Ah-Kim, 15, Brenden Ah-Kim, Bailey Ah-Kim, 12, Krystal Heller, and Christine Ah-Kim, 16.
Camera IconGoldfields Football League umpires Kayla Ah-Kim, 15, Brenden Ah-Kim, Bailey Ah-Kim, 12, Krystal Heller, and Christine Ah-Kim, 16. Credit: Carwyn Monck/Kalgoorlie Miner

The Goldfields Football League Umpires’ Association has launched an online survey in an effort to attract greater interest among the local ranks.

Umpiring stocks have been a concern for several years, and were compounded in 2023 when fixtures reverted exclusively to Saturday afternoon games.

The survey is designed to gauge specific issues preventing potential recruits from becoming an umpire — that may include match payments, a lack of training and abuse.

A league field umpire last season could earn $140 a game, but the season got under way with numbers at critically low levels after round one.

Despite a pay increase of 15 per cent, GFL umpires co-ordinator Graeme Davis at the time said numbers among the local panel were at their slimmest since he joined the ranks in 1988.

In February, GFLUA president Brenden Ah-Kim said the Geraldton-based Great Northern Football League negotiated umpire shortages by prioritising the use of its most experienced members for league matches.

“We have umpires who have put up their hands to do multiple games on the same weekend, among those who are fit enough to do it,” Ah-Kim said.

“But it’s not our preference (because) there’s always risk of injury.”

Ah-Kim, who started umpiring in the GFL after his arrival in the Goldfields in 1996, was this year joined in the GFLUA by his fiancee, two daughters and a son.

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