Three all-female umpiring crews blew the whistle, ran the boundary and waved the flags for an entire day when Glenroy hosted Hillside in Division 1 of the EDFL on Saturday.
The EDFL Umpires Association “Women in Football” day celebrated the recruitment and retention of female umpires in numbers that allowed the day of all-female umpires to take place. The day also doubled as a fund-raiser for the Cancer Council of Australia.
EDFL umpires coach and AFL Hall of Fame member Rowan Sawers said the strength in depth was the key to assigning female umpires to all three grades.
“It’s an endorsement for the junior umpiring program we’ve got in place,” Sawers said.
“We’ve got 120 green-shirt (first-year junior) umpires this season; a quarter of them are girls. It’s important to show that there are opportunities all the way up to senior football.”
Upcoming talents in the EDFL ranks include Nadine Rabah and Natalie Pace, who have both officiated their first senior game this season.
“We’ve got to encourage more women into footy and days like this show what a key role umpiring can play,” Sawers said.
“It reflects on the culture we’re building that recruits and retains umpires, men and women.”
Boundary umpire Stacey Cartwright-Smith, 25, said she hoped the day would grow into an annual event that the EDFLUA’s female umpires strived to be selected for.
“We looked at the numbers through goal, field and boundary and with the significant number of female participants we thought it would be a good day to promote females across all levels of football,” Cartwright-Smith said.
“Seeing the commitment and dedication that (the umpires) have to each other on the training track, it will be nice to see that replicated in a Saturday game of football.
“Most (new) umpires we get start in the junior ranks on Sundays and we want to show them the opportunity they can have on a Saturday as a boundary, goal or field umpire, from under-18s up to senior football.”
Field umpire Briana Martin-Bashtannyk, 22, is the EDFLUA’s female umpires liaison and a graduate of the AFL Victoria Female Umpire Academy. “When I started eight years ago there weren’t that many female umpires, I was one of about five,” Martin-Bashtannyk said.
“The numbers really have skyrocketed from there. I think it is down to the welcoming environment, you come down to training every week… everyone’s supportive of each other and it really is something you want to keep coming back to week-in, week-out.”
EDFL umpire Amy McQuade was a field umpire for the inaugural AFL Women’s Exhibition match between Melbourne and Western Bulldogs last year, while EDFL goal umpire Shannon Colgan officiated in this year’s match. Both took part on Saturday.
