Umps Corner Round 7

Last week saw us celebrate Umpires Round, thank you to all clubs who supported us on the day. It’s great to see the initiative started by Williamstown CYMS years ago has been taken up and supported by the AFL. Further proof that we run in the best competition in the country!

Being Umpires round, we saw an increased presence of umpires in the Amateur Footballer. Tom Windlow had the GPS stats and Andrew Walters appeared on the cover. Andrew’s appearance may have gone to his head somewhat, as he was spotted signing at least one copy of the round 6 publication.

Get Well Chuck

Wayne “Chuck” Hinton has had a few health issues over the last year or so, and we were thrilled to hear that he is now on the mend. While returning to the field this year is probably out of reach, we’re sure that Chuck will be on deck next year, fitter than ever before.

It’s going to be a ripping BBQ!

We’ve mentioned the luck that some of members have had with winning meat trays at clubs this year, so we’re going to start a tally to see how many we can get throughout the year. Up to round 5 we had scored four meat trays, with Peter Teasedale joining Paul Jones in taking one home and Shane McNamara taking home two, so if you win one let us know and we’ll keep score.

Leah Gallagher

As mentioned a week or so ago, we have had a late but significant retirement in Leah “Spider” Gallagher. We felt it would be fitting to pay tribute to a true trail blazer of an umpire.

Leah started as a boundary umpire in 1986 as a boundary umpire with the idea to keep fit in the off season of cricket, where she rose to be a regular in A Grade A knee reconstruction in 1995 saw Spider change to field umpiring as (and we’ll admit it here) there is less running compared to the boundary.  Highlights of Leah’s boundary umpiring career included a first for women in Under 19s with Sharon Alger in the field and Therese Bolger and Leah on the boundary, 2 A Grade grand finals, 2 B Grade grand finals and the 1992 AAFC Carnival.

Field umpiring continued the career by serving an apprenticeship in the lower grades, and after 7 years Spider once again ran around in A Grade. This hard work was rewarded with the 2001 most improved Field umpire and 2005 VAFA umpire of the year.

During the years of her “apprenticeship” Leah created strong relationships with clubs and players in all sections, which made umpiring easy due to the respect that was gained during this time.

In 2008 an invitation to join Steve McCarthy and Darren Dalgleish coaching the Development squad allowed Leah to pass on her knowledge to the next crop of umpires. Leah took great pleasure seeing those students rising in the VAFA as well as some continuing to the VFL.  A foot injury put a stop to umpiring for almost two years but last year made a comeback. At the end of 2014 and 497 games, Spider knew it was time to finish and pursue life after football.

Off field Leah was heavily involved with the association by holding positions of Vice President, Social Secretary and was bestowed the VAFAUA highest honour of Life Membership.

In addition Leah co-wrote Umpires Corner for a number of years, and says that some of the best stories may, or may not, have been written after a few Bacardi Rums!