Wimmera-Mail Times| Two separate umpiring groups will become one ahead of the 2016 Wimmera Football League and Horsham District Football Netball League season.
WIMMERA Football Umpires Association members feel blindsided by an AFL Wimmera-Mallee commission decision to create a new umpires group this year.
The group – AFL Wimmera-Mallee Umpires – will involve the association merging with Wimmera Football League Umpires Group
Umpires association president Kingsley Dalgleish said he was bewildered.
He said the group supported the idea of one umpire group, but believed the change was too quick.
“We supported the principle, however believed a decision should be made to move forward without the need to review,” Mr Dalgleish said.
On January 10, umpires association members voted down a motion to merge with the other umpires group, and submitted a revised plan to the commission.
This recommended umpiring in the Wimmera Football League and Horsham District Football Netball League should continue as normal in 2016 before the new group was introduced in 2017.
“We unanimously endorsed a new motion to be taken to the next meeting of the working party,” Mr Dalgleish said.
“That was nearly a month ago and there hadn’t been any response. That’s the disappointing thing.”
Mr Dalgleish said Tuesday’s announcement was confusing, given AFL Wimmera-Mallee had not contacted the association since it submitted the revised motion.
“There’s been no mention of a future meeting of the working party,” he said.
AFL Wimmera-Mallee’s Bruce Petering said the group had received communication from the umpires association.
“Once all the other stakeholders were comfortable with that position the AFL Wimmera-Mallee had assumed, then that was the position we took,” he said.
Mr Petering said the job of forwarding news of the decision to the umpires association was left to Horsham District league officials out of respect for their long-standing relationship with the whistle-blowers.
Mr Dalgleish said the only correspondence he had received was from AFL Wimmera-Mallee informing him of the group’s first training session on February 16.
Horsham District league chairman Graeme King said the league would send a letter to the umpires association indicating its support for the new group.
“We had a meeting last week where we moved that we would support the formation of the new body, and we would source our new umpires from it this season,” he said. “They will get an official letter from us in the near future.”