AT the Ballarat Football Umpires Association season launch, members were treated to a visit and a training tips from AFL goal umpire Chelsea Roffey.<\/p>\n
Her visit was part of the final training session at City Oval before the region\u2019s football leagues swung into action and BFUA head of operations Billy Mitchell said including Roffey was one of the organisation\u2019s strategies to increase the number of women officiating the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year\u2019s focus is on females and growing our participation in umpiring, at the moment 10 per cent membership is females, we want that to be closer to 30 per cent in five years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cChelsea\u2019s here to set the agenda around that, she\u2019s a trailblazer and has been able to get to the AFL and even done a grand final as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe leagues are doing a lot in terms of driving female participation, like the BFLW is launching this year, if we can jump on board, drive for new players, we will also see the benefit on our end.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having travelled from Melbourne for the training session, Ms Roffey said she\u2019s excited to get involved in opportunities to promote female footy and umpiring.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have three female umpires in the AFL at the moment so there aren\u2019t many around,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough there are so many at a community level and we are looking to build those pathways and pipelines to get more girls and women involved.<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially with AFLW, it\u2019s such a brilliant competition, umpiring is just another avenue to be a part of the game, if we can spread that message and get girls involved, there are opportunities now out there and people should go for it.<\/p>\n
Although female participation is still low within the Ballarat and regional leagues, Mr Mitchell said there\u2019s around 300 umpires currently registered from a diverse range of ages and abilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no pre-requisite, there\u2019s some training that you have to do during your first year but there\u2019s no barrier in signing up to be an umpire,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe accept umpires aged 13 plus all the way up to 80.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to be an organisation that not only includes males and females, but also empowers them in terms of what we can do for the community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
AT the Ballarat Football Umpires Association season launch, members were treated to a visit and a training tips from AFL goal umpire Chelsea Roffey. Her visit was part of the final training session at City Oval before the region\u2019s football leagues swung into action and BFUA head of operations Billy Mitchell said including Roffey was […]<\/p>\n