THE Western Region Football League has appointed Mark Westgarth as the director of umpiring for the 2013 season.
The decision was made as the league aims to sure up its current record number of umpires.
Westgarth will take on the role for an initial three-year term, with the key objective of continuing to grow umpire numbers, with an extra focus on retention & training.
The league currently has over 300 umpires involved on weekend match days, with a recent increase in junior females taking up the whistle for the first time.
WRFL Chief Executive Officer Bob Tregear said Westgarth’s appointment was another proactive step taken by the league in developing the officiating side of the game.
“The league continues to put resources into the recruitment, retention and education of umpires, and Mark’s background in both umpiring and the western suburbs makes him a perfect fit for the role,” Tregear said.
“He has already had a great impact with our umpiring academy at Mackillop College, and through his teaching role at the school he has significant experience working with our key demographic of new umpires – being teenagers.”
“Mark will aim to take the Western Region Football League’s umpires to the next step and beyond, both in professionalism and development.”
Westgath umpired 74 AFL (then VFL) games from 1982-1986, before pursuing a career in education.
He said retention of current umpires would be his initial focus in his first couple of months.
“The WRFL umpiring body has grown significantly over the past three years and I have be fortunate enough to be involved in that growth with my involvement with the MacKillop Academy,” said Westgarth.
“We’ve had over 150 umpires go through the academy in the last four years however we have only retained around 30.”
“We also now face the challenge of developing our current crop of young umpires into established senior WRFL umpires.”
“I’m also looking forward to the challenge of working with established umpires in further developing their skills across all three disciplines, and given my experience I believe I am best place to achieve that goal.”
“The WRFL umpires are a fantastic group of men and women who I am looking forward to working with in 2013 and beyond.”
