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Umpiring and coaching gets a boost in Canada

  • Tuesday, April 27 2010 @ 06:38 am ACST
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One of the important but easily overlooked issues for the growth of international Aussie Rules is providing good coaching, and perhaps even more importantly, good umpiring. Whilst expat-Aussies often help kick start clubs and leagues, long term it is crucial to get locals involved in these important roles - and Australians often have a thing or two to learn about the laws of the game too.

Australian football in Canada recently received a boost with two weeks of official accreditation occurring across the country.

AFL Canada in conjunction with its 3 provincial bodies the BCAFL (British Columbia), AAFL (Alberta) and OAFL (Ontario) and the AFL undertook the massive job of holding Level 1 coaching and Level 0 umpiring clinics in 4 cities in 3 provinces to get accreditation for each of its club head and assistant coaches and all field umpires. AFL Canada with financial assistance from the BCAFL, AAFL and the OAFL invited AFL Level 2 coach and umpire coach Garry McKenzie to visit each area to hold a full day coaching course and a 1/2 day umpires course. The impressive totals of people accredited for Canada are seen here.

Toronto, Ontario: 24 - Umpire Level 0, 18 - Coaching Level 1.
Calgary, Alberta: 12 - Umpire Level 0, 12 - Coaching Level 1.
Edmonton, Alberta: 13 - Umpire Level 0, 13 - Coaching Level 1.
Vancouver, British Columbia: 16 - Umpire Level 0, 5 - Coaching Level 1.

Totals: 65 - Umpire Level 0, 48 - Coaching Level 1.

In all it was a great exercise that will result in better coaching for new Canadian players and better umpiring during games ensuring the safety of players and making for a better spectacle.

Special thanks from AFL Canada went to Garry McKenzie for his hard work throughout the 2 weeks, Stu Grills in BC, Jake Anson in Alberta and Martin Walter in Ontario and Josh Vanderloo at AFL headquarters for working with AFL Canada to accomplish the goal of certification for all those involved in key roles across Canada.

The next step for all coaches is to progress to their level 2 status and for umpires to gain their level 1 accreditation before the end of the season.