Community Umpiring Week 2025 – Umpire Spotlights
This week (28th April – 4th May) of the AFL Season is Community Umpiring Week. A chance for the whole AFL Community to come together, recoginse and celebrate the team in Green that officiate our great game.
To mark this exciting occasion, AFL Sydney caught up with a handful of our very own Umpires from all disciplines to hear about their experiences and highlights of picking up the whistle and how anyone at any stage can get involved.
For more information on getting into Umpiring head to play.afl/umpire
Ryan Wong – Boundary Umpire
What lead you to get involved with Umpiring?
I first found out about junior umpiring through playing AFL as they sent out forms for people who were interested. While I first engaged in Junior field umpiring, the opportunity for Juniors to boundary umpire Senior games came out. Hesitantly I participated in my first Senior boundary umpire game which was a Women’s premier division match. Although the prospect of Senior boundary umpiring sounded nerve-racking, I found the panel of umpires extremely supportive inspiring me to continue boundary umpiring.
Who is your Umpiring hero and why?
As a boundary my primary umpiring hero would have to be Michael Barlow due to his inspirational achievements within the AFL as a boundary umpire but also because of similarities that I believe are reflected within myself. His achievements of having multiple grand final appearances and being named to the All Australian Umpiring team displays a dedication to boundary umpiring that I hope to mirror. Furthermore Barlow began boundary umpiring at the same time as me, at the age of 12 therefore exhibiting a path to professional boundary umpiring that I hope to follow.
What is your best off-field memory from Umpiring?
One of my bests off-field memories are derived from the compliments paid after the game. Particularly after a difficult game, when my body is fatigued and sore, it is rejuvenating when a person comes up introduces themselves and compliments how well you did during the game.
If you could give once piece of advice to someone thinking about getting involved with Umpiring, what would it be?
Always seek feedback and ways to improve from umpires more experienced than you.
