Official Match Report
We had a first time umpire who did his very best to control the game. It was a tight and hard fought game and the umpire became flustered during the 3rd quarter and this continued into the last quarter. He was influenced heavily by the peripheral 'noise' with his decisions. While I understand that it takes a great deal of man power to cover all the games, I feel that the SMJFL let this boy down today by not having a mentor at the ground for his first game. As the game progressed into the 2nd half, sling tackles were allowed and resulted in holding the ball being awarded which lead to some unruly and unacceptable play. As clubs we are doing our best to support these young umpires, however, it is important that they also get the necessary training and support that they need from the SMJFL. Hopefully his confidence is not to damaged and he will continue to umpire this season.