The importance of Coaching Umpires at the WAFL level is in many ways proportional to a WAFL club player coach in relation to attaining and maintaining acceptable performance outcomes on game day.

There is no single factor that determines consistency in this area however all would agree that having qualified and competent coaching, conditioning and medical teams remains a fundamental requirement to meeting performance challenges.

One of the main challenges facing umpire coaches is meeting the expectations of the football public, media, players and their coaches in light of the changing style, increased tempo, nature of play, and changing interpretations to the laws of the game.

For umpires to maintain consistency of interpretation and ensure even decision making under game situations for both teams in all matches is a huge challenge.

Consistency is paramount in umpiring to ensure all players receive equal justice under the laws.  That consistency can only come from the umpires knowledge a common understanding. Being in the correct position and being observant, fit and confident in what they are doing is also critical.

WA Based AFL umpires recently headed out to regional WA as part of the AFL Umpire Road show program.

Veteran AFL Field umpire Dean Margetts travelled to Esperance and Kalgoorlie and a few weeks later 2011 AFL Grand Final boundary umpire Nathan Doig was accompanied by AFL Goal Umpire Matt Laycock on a development trip to Geraldton.

The program, which has been running for several years, provides AFL umpires the opportunity to impart their highly developed skills, knowledge and experiences to the regional football community.

It also puts a human face to the AFL umpire as they deliver the AFL message that “Umpiring is Everyone’s Business’’

Margetts, 37, is entering his 11^th season as an AFL Field umpire, which has included umpiring AFL Finals.

Margetts, said that even he had dismissed the importance of umpires in the past.

With the development of a Talent Pathway for umpiring, it was recognized that future WAFL and AFL umpires needed to have opportunities at a senior community level before progressing to the WAFL.

This led to the development of The Junior District Talent Squad (JDTS) program, which has now been in place for four years.

The program has seen 19 umpires progress to Senior Community Umpiring (WAAFL and PFL) and another 13 umpires being promoted to the WAFL.

After a long hard pre-season which started in January and a number of weeks of scratch matches the Senior Community Umpiring team officiated in their first round of fixtures last weekend.

Both the WA Amateur Football League and WA Women’s Football League kicked off their seasons and these are the two main competitions that the Senior Community Umpires service.

Not only are there a number of umpires returning from the previous season but there has been an injection of new blood into the team. The Senior Community Umpiring team is the stepping stone into WAFL umpiring and 2012 saw 5 field umpires, 4 boundary umpires and 2 goal umpires take the next step by joining the WAFL Umpiring team after being nominated to trial with them during the 2012 pre-season.

Goal umpire David Shawcross will celebrate a dual milestone this weekend when he officiates in his 350th league game.

The veteran flag waver will become just the second West Australian to reach the mark, but it will also be a historic day for his family because it will be the 500th match where a Shawcross has umpired at league level.

David’s brother Colin umpired 22 league games as a field umpire before taking up goal umpiring where he officiated in 128 matches.

The pair are closing in on the record of retired field and goal umpires Craig and Wayne Hendrie who umpired a combined 513 games. Their father Rob also umpired at AFL and WAFL level with 218 matches.

“It’s a fantastic effort from Dave to be umpiring his 350th game and the Shawcross name will forever be cemented in umpiring,” WAFC High Performance Umpire Manager Darryl Sinclair said.