Celebrations for Community Umpiring Week will take place during Round 9 of the 2024 Toyota AFL Premiership Season, with the AFL and broader football community coming together to recognise its team in green.
Locally, this week the TIO Central Australian Football League have once again teamed up with long time Umpires Round naming rights partner KFC Alice Springs for a celebration of the invaluable contribution and role umpires play in Australian football.
There are currently more than 17,000 registered community umpires across Australia – pleasingly up 21 per cent compared to this time last year – and as footy continues to grow, the AFL needs more people to pull up their socks and pick up a whistle.
As part of the celebrations, a host of initiatives will roll out during the week, each one designed to help drive engagement between AFL and community umpires, upskill and develop junior umpires and provide memorable match-day experiences for local umpires.
These initiatives across all state and territories include:
- More than 80 AFL umpires will attend local umpiring training sessions and officiate local junior footy matches.
- AFL players will officiate local junior matches.
- AFL umpires at each Round 9 match will be led onto the ground by community umpires, giving them an incredible game-day experience.
- Junior community umpires will also officiate half-time Auskick grid games.
- AFL captains will meet community umpires at the coin toss and capture photos.
- Recognition via Umpire Service Awards for more than 1,200 umpires who have recorded more than 25 years and 50 years of service.