The umpires had a tough night. Then Gillon McLachlan called

There was a line in the first episode of the new ABC comedy Ground Up that made me chuckle and gave me pause for thought simultaneously.

Sam Pang’s character Hugh Shen is talking to his lackey, Jameson. “If I can pull this project off, I can be the AFL CEO … if I f— it up, I’ll end up head of umpiring.”

The chuckle was because it was funny, the pause to think … Well, a few years back I was the head of umpiring.

Is that job really looked upon that unfavourably?

When Mark Evans, who was the general manager of football at the AFL, called to ask if I was interested in the head of umpiring role vacated by Jeff Gieschen, the thought immediately intrigued me.

Some people in football are fascinated by the rules and umpiring. In all my time as a player or coach, I’d not taken even a passing interest.

But once I accepted the role, I was all in. I immersed myself and loved it. We tried as best we could to replicate an AFL football program with a head coach, assistant coaches, an analyst, leadership groups and the like. But in so many ways it was different. Way different.

Firstly, you “play” nine games every weekend, not one. And if you play nine games, even when you’re really good, you’re bound to lose a couple. In umpiring the “wins” get glossed over, but by golly the “losses” are put under the microscope.

In one of the first leadership group meetings another of the differences became apparent. In my first month, a big off-field issue had hit us, and we were working through it. Before I could start with the agenda, Matt Stevic asked me how I was going. I’d run leadership group meetings at clubs regularly. A player had never asked me how I was going.

Sitting in that room were mature men, with professional careers, and families. They were clever and were passionate about umpiring. They also absolutely knew their place in the game, which was to allow the players to shine. I learnt a lot from them.

I also learnt a valuable lesson in leadership and the power of language, halfway through my second season.

The game had become congested. It was a series of rolling mauls. We could fix that by paying more free kicks. I discussed how we could do this with head coach Hayden Kennedy.

“It’s just one free kick a quarter,” I said. He looked at me with a knowing frown that suggested it wasn’t quite that easy, but after a few discussions we decided to give it a go.

Hayden coached magnificently that week with subtlety and nuance. “Don’t look for them,” he said, “but if it looks like a free kick, pay it.”

Off an average of 32 free kicks per game, in the Friday night game between Hawthorn and Carlton we paid 47 free kicks. The Hawks won by 138 points as the ball pinged around under the roof at Marvel Stadium. I ran into John Barker, who was coaching the Blues, in the lift after the game. No words were exchanged, but his look suggested, “What the hell have you done to me!”

It didn’t get much better over the weekend, and on Monday I volunteered to front the media to explain.

It went perfectly, except for one word … which meant it was a disaster. When explaining where it had gone wrong, I used the word “they” when describing the umpires, when “we” was what I should have said.

The umpires thought I had distanced myself from the performance and were rightly filthy. I fronted them on Tuesday and apologised. The apology was accepted it, and we moved on, and while it taught me a valuable lesson it also illustrated something deeper.

No one barracks for the umpires. But they are the AFL’s team. And the AFL needs to back them, and back them strongly. The umpires are a punching bag and so their protection needs to be strong and genuine. They feel it when it’s token.

It doesn’t mean they shouldn’t admit when they make mistakes; in fact, that is actually needed to try to earn the trust of the fans. But behind closed doors and publicly, they need to feel that someone has their back.

After a particularly bad finals performance in Perth, Gillon McLachlan took time out to give me a call the next day to reassure me that we were supported and that that game had been an aberration. It was wonderful leadership, and was appreciated by the umpiring department.

How do you create a positive environment with a group of people who feel like they never win and get harassed constantly? You create high standards, you give them every possible resource to get better, and you back them in with everything you’ve got.

The other factor that is a little alarming is that umpires say they’ve been subjected to the abuse since they first put a whistle to their mouth, so they are accustomed to it. They have created an invisible shell around themselves.

Damien Hardwick was warned last week by the AFL for comments post-game, but that comes after there has been seemingly a reluctance to pull coaches up for similar remarks. This week, the AFL got serious; the next coach to vent publicly about umpiring decisions will get more than a talking to, such is the flow-on effect to local and junior footy.

It would be a stretch to say that coaches and umpires are similar, but hang with me for a moment. They both face enormous scrutiny. They will always have their detractors. They are doing something incredibly difficult. The difference is that at least the coach gets to celebrate a win now and then.

The support of coaches, which in the main is fantastic, is one of the greatest tools to making umpiring better.

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