A Boundary Umpire's Perspective
Well, another final bites the dust. This week it was Glenorchy vs North Nobart at KGV in the second semi final. The leagues top two teams were fighting for a spot in the grand final in a fortnight, while the loser would face off against the winner of Clarence and Lauderdale in the preliminary final, next Sunday at North Hobart Oval.
With a very solid crowd, in the order of two or three thousand people, and some lightning fast footy, the stage was set for three exhausted boundary umpires. Being the "number 2" umpire, I umpired the first 14 minutes with 9 time Senior grand final umpire Bidgood. Those opening 15 minutes were frenetic, the ball being run end to end, with perhaps two stoppages in that period.
At the 14 minute mark I was replaced by back to back grand final umpire Gourls, elevated from assistant coach to senior semi-final umpire. He has one of the biggest throw-ins in Australian Football. (Probably second to Zephan, who is simply freaky.)
Taking up position for the full second quarter was me. Thankfully, the game slowed a little for the first few minutes of that quarter. Gradually the tempo lifted, and the ball was being moved in an end to end fashion, as it had done at the start of the first quarter. The primary difference being the reduced penetration into the forward line. Nonetheless, hard running was required for 27 minutes of football. The difference at the main break being only 8 points.
In the third quarter the footy kept moving quickly, though, there were an increased number of stoppages. Yours truly ran the second half of the third quarter. Interestingly, after being off for the full half time break as well as the first half of the third quarter, I was feeling fresh, but flat. I felt like I had the legs to run hard, but I just didn't have the spark, the big acceleration that I'd had earlier in the game. This was apparent to keen observers.
The last quarter, of which I ran the first half, again, was frenetic. Goals were kicked at both ends of the park. The ball was being transitioned seamlessly from one end of the ground to the other. In that first half of quarter the spark was back. The big acceleration, the hard running, that extra gear, they were all there for those 13 minutes. North Hobart piled on a couple of quick goals to suddenly be up by that margin. The ball, deep in the Glenorchy forward line, was suddenly cleared, and the end to end play continued. Yours truly, seeing Gourls with his tracksuit top off and seemingly ready to go, eased off, hoping, hoping that the two time grand final umpire would be ready for the change over. But no. So somewhere, somehow, I restarted the legs, pumped the arms and sprinted down to the goals. The North Hobart player, on the run, forty out, kicked truly. I tried to get down there, but the earlier deceleration had taken its toll, costing vital seconds as I raced down to meet my partner for the ball relay. One burst through the middle and one final burst off the point of the square and my job was done. I backed out and let the two old horses see out the rest of the match.
The game became scrappy and the Bidgood machine had about fifteen throws in the second half of that last quarter. North Hobart, three goals up, didn't score another goal - but they repelled every Glenorchy attack comfortably. North Hobart finished up 3 goal victors, ready to face the winner of Clarence and Glenorchy in the Grand Final.
With a very solid crowd, in the order of two or three thousand people, and some lightning fast footy, the stage was set for three exhausted boundary umpires. Being the "number 2" umpire, I umpired the first 14 minutes with 9 time Senior grand final umpire Bidgood. Those opening 15 minutes were frenetic, the ball being run end to end, with perhaps two stoppages in that period.
At the 14 minute mark I was replaced by back to back grand final umpire Gourls, elevated from assistant coach to senior semi-final umpire. He has one of the biggest throw-ins in Australian Football. (Probably second to Zephan, who is simply freaky.)
Taking up position for the full second quarter was me. Thankfully, the game slowed a little for the first few minutes of that quarter. Gradually the tempo lifted, and the ball was being moved in an end to end fashion, as it had done at the start of the first quarter. The primary difference being the reduced penetration into the forward line. Nonetheless, hard running was required for 27 minutes of football. The difference at the main break being only 8 points.
In the third quarter the footy kept moving quickly, though, there were an increased number of stoppages. Yours truly ran the second half of the third quarter. Interestingly, after being off for the full half time break as well as the first half of the third quarter, I was feeling fresh, but flat. I felt like I had the legs to run hard, but I just didn't have the spark, the big acceleration that I'd had earlier in the game. This was apparent to keen observers.
The last quarter, of which I ran the first half, again, was frenetic. Goals were kicked at both ends of the park. The ball was being transitioned seamlessly from one end of the ground to the other. In that first half of quarter the spark was back. The big acceleration, the hard running, that extra gear, they were all there for those 13 minutes. North Hobart piled on a couple of quick goals to suddenly be up by that margin. The ball, deep in the Glenorchy forward line, was suddenly cleared, and the end to end play continued. Yours truly, seeing Gourls with his tracksuit top off and seemingly ready to go, eased off, hoping, hoping that the two time grand final umpire would be ready for the change over. But no. So somewhere, somehow, I restarted the legs, pumped the arms and sprinted down to the goals. The North Hobart player, on the run, forty out, kicked truly. I tried to get down there, but the earlier deceleration had taken its toll, costing vital seconds as I raced down to meet my partner for the ball relay. One burst through the middle and one final burst off the point of the square and my job was done. I backed out and let the two old horses see out the rest of the match.
The game became scrappy and the Bidgood machine had about fifteen throws in the second half of that last quarter. North Hobart, three goals up, didn't score another goal - but they repelled every Glenorchy attack comfortably. North Hobart finished up 3 goal victors, ready to face the winner of Clarence and Glenorchy in the Grand Final.
posted by BSJ-rom at 6:47 pm
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