Young umpire marks championship return

WITH droves of footballers taking to Ballarat’s fields as part of the School Sport Australia 15 Years and Under Australian Football Championships, a young umpire has been keeping his signalling hands busy.

Having taken part in last year’s competition, Rohan McMaster was selected once again to keep players in check for the student-selected program despite having started home-schooling this year.

He said it’s exciting to be overseeing games a second year.

“I thought I was only going to get to do it the one time but I’m here again so it’s amazing,” he said.

“I’m homeschooled with [Euka Future Learning] and when I signed up it said you had to be enrolled in a government school so I didn’t think I was going to be able to do it.

“It’s a higher level of football and not as scrappy as some of the local leagues. I learned a lot about teamwork last year.

Taking place last weekend, McMaster umpired two games per day out of the 24 matches leading into the grand finals this Saturday.

He has been umpiring since 2020 when he joined the Ballarat Football Umpires Association, and oversees Ballarat Football League and Central Highlands Football matches, normally two each Saturday.

He said participating in the week-long championships is a great stepping stone to reach his goal of umpiring for the AFL.

“Many umpires who’ve done national championships have gone on to umpire AFL,” he said.

“I got interested in umpiring a long time ago. I couldn’t play football because of a hip disease and umpiring was the next best thing to get involved.”

Taking place at six local venues, the championships are projected to attract more than 450 players and officials while bringing more than $1 million into the local economy.