Females Umpiring Footy... What of it?

Chelsea Roffey is a game-changer. She was the first female umpire in the AFL. An extraordinary feat for any female! The only catch is that she is a a goal umpire rather than a boundary or field one. So why haven't there been any? It's the 21st century, for crying out loud! But I think there are more factors in play than what there might appear...

Firstly, the first female will not be given an easy time. In soccer, a female umpire was criticised by 2 TV commentators for "not knowing the game". The commentators got in big lot of trouble but you can only imagine how it must have felt like for her.

It all comes back to the stereotype of girls liking shopping and makeup while boys like sports and cars. This view is quite old-fashioned and not at all correct.

To take that step on to the field will be a big step for any female. On the field at any one time there are two teams of 18 big, strong players on top of trainers, other umpires and various other officials. Just running around with those guys would be quite intimidating. You would have to be very fit and have a commanding presence. Umpires have to control the game, females can be slightly disadvantaged in that regard as they usually have a smaller build but, having said that, if you look at the AFL umpires, they are not usually as big as some of the players and I personally think that quite a few umps are footy-lovers who didn't think they had what it takes to get to the AFL so they took up umpiring.

To me though, it would be the crowd that would be the most intimidating. Crowds like that can be unpredictable and will almost certainly criticise female umpires decisions that they don't like with the "What does she know? She's a female" excuse. It's not fair but it's most likely true.

My main point is that it's anytime now that a female throws the ball up in the centre circle but it's not going to be easy for her. There are lots of female footy fans and there are limited ways to get involved. It's only a matter of time now-once we've got one, who knows how many could follow!