EXCLUSIVE: TBT talks with AFL Goal Umpire Chelsea Roffey | Thebigtip

A woman behind the goals....the latest frontier.

Chelsea Roffey is the second ever female AFL goal umpire and the only female listed umpire in the competition this year. Chelsea was appointed in 2004 after fellow goal umpire, David Morris, resigned during the season. Chelsea is a journalist when she is not umpiring and I was pleased to be able to recently interview her, and obtain some fascinating insights into the life of a (female) AFL goal umpire.

Joseph:  Firstly, How’s it going? How did you get interested in AFL?
Chelsea:  I’m well, thanks Joe! Like most people, I was pretty much born into footy. Being born in South Australia and spending my early years there living in small towns where Australian football was a very big part of life. My parents were involved with the local sporting clubs, and weekends were typically spent at the football oval – Dad with the local team and mum playing basketball or netball with the women. I can remember playing games with other kids outside the ground and have strong imagery of the cars lining the fence and tooting their horns in support of the teams.

My family ended up moving to Queensland and although I spent most of my childhood in rugby league heartland, we were always a footy family. My dad and two brothers were involved with local clubs, and the boys went on to represent the state as teenagers. I loved kicking the footy in the park with them and developed a keen interest in watching AFL on the TV and live matches at the Gabba.

J: How did you get involved in goal umpiring? Was it always an ambition for you in the early days?
C: I put my hand up to do some goal umpiring during my final year of high school to help the boys’ teams out. I was nuts about football, and figured my understanding of the game would help me to be of use waving the flags. I ended up doing a handful of games but only started getting seriously involved the following year, when I joined the local umpires’ association. Training during the week was a great way to keep active and doing games on weekends was a good part-time job while studying at uni.

J: Umpires are known to get abuse hurled at them, how do you cope with it and have you copped much over your time?
C: I’ve certainly been on the end of a spray or two! When I first started umpiring I came into contact with some pretty rough characters who weren’t afraid to express their opinion. Working up the ladder through the grades, the players tended to become more professional, which saw a shift in the abuse – less from players and more from spectators behind the fence. At AFL level, you do cop it from people behind the goals, usually after a tight decision. And sometimes because they just don’t like umpires. But I have been very surprised with the amount of support I receive, also. Sometimes people call out to me and I expect them to let fly with something offensive, but they end up saying something supportive and positive – very unusual for umpires! To deal with abuse, you have to learn to deflect it by remaining focused on the job and developing a thick skin. You learn to understand you’re not there to please people. Just do your best to get it right.

J:  Can you describe a typical game day?
C: Umpires arrive at an AFL match at least an hour-and-a-half before start time. Once we arrive and say hi to the team of umpires we are running with, the goal umpires will go and inspect the goal areas to see that the post padding is in order and get a feel for the conditions on the day – elements like sunlight, wind, rain, and lighting all have an impact on how we adjust to reading the play. The third scorer (reserve) synchronises his watch with the timekeepers and scoreboard. We change into our uniforms and attach our earpieces to the battery packs that enable us to hear the field umpires, before heading onto the ground 12 minutes before the first bounce.

After the match we fill in result cards to confirm the score, followed by a one-on-one discussion with our match observer. The observer’s job is to assess every decision we make on the day, based on the type of decision and the movements we have made in order to make that decision. If there is a close call, we are instructed to submit an incident report the following Monday, when we can expect the decision to be reviewed in at the AFL using all of the available game vision to assess the decision from all angles.

J: What is the most enjoyable part of your job?
C: The best part of the job is the thrill of being at ground level to judge some incredibly exciting passages of play. We get to witness the skill of the players up close and ride the emotions of the crowd.

J: Female umpires have been in the media recently, what is your take on female’s being allowed to become field umpires in the AFL?
C: I think gender should be irrelevant when it comes to umpiring. What is most important is having the best people in the job, so it really comes down to the individual. Are they a good decision-maker? Do they have an excellent knowledge of the rules? Can they handle the physical requirements and scrutiny that comes with the role? Do they get the job done? I’m in favour of judging an individual on his or her merits.

J: Are you in favour of bringing in video footage for goal umpires to eliminate possible errors?
C: The value of bringing in video technology needs to be carefully considered. Sometimes errors are not obvious from particular angles, and it can be an arduous process determining some results based on video footage – the controversy surrounding NRL referee Bill Harrigan is an example of how using video can present problems. Another consideration is where to draw the line if technology is available; there are hundreds of incredibly tight calls made each year. Would we be expected to go to the tape to double-check each of these decisions? In my opinion there are a lot of questions that need to be addressed concerning the implementation of such technology to ensure the attributes we love about the game are preserved.

J: What does training consist of for a goal umpire?
C: Believe it or not, goal umpires have a pre-season! We are required to complete a 5km time trial, a beep test and agility testing to be considered for games. We also have to meet skinfolds requirements to ensure we are keeping in shape. Through the season we train as a group twice a week, with sessions covering skills practice in the goals – where we replicate game-like situations – fitness, agility and video review sessions.

J: When you are not goal umpiring on the big stage, you are a journalist. How did you get involved in journalism?
C: I studied journalism as a way to get a job. After school I completed a Bachelor of Music but soon decided I wanted to pursue something with a little more certainty in the job stakes. I’d always enjoyed reading, writing and public speaking so thought a communications-centred degree like journalism would be a suitable choice.

J: Would you like to umpire on the last day September?
C: YES!!!

J: What are some of your favourite moments since being appointed in 2004?
C: Moving to Melbourne from Brisbane, where I started in the AFL list, has given me the opportunity to umpire some games between traditional rivals, like Carlton v Richmond. Umpiring at the home of footy with a 70- or 80,000-strong crowd sends shivers down the spine!

Some matches stick in the memory, like the grand final replay between Geelong and Hawthorn in 2009, when I lined up for Jimmy Bartel’s kick after the siren to win the game.

Another match of note was one up at the Gabba when Jonathan Brown was neck-and-neck with Matthew Pavlich to win the Coleman Medal, and both happened to be playing in games at the same time in opposite parts of the country. The Gabba scoreboard had the goal tally against each player’s name, so when Pavlich kicked one in Perth, the Gabba crowd would respond. Then Brown would get one in Brisbane and the supporters got behind him. It was a strange experience, like being at two exciting matches at once.

It’s always a great feeling when you nail a really tight call as a goal umpire. Sometimes there’s a fingernail in it, or the ball clears the line by millimetres. The intensity when things move so fast is hard to describe, but it’s awesome to make those calls and see the replay prove you right!

J: Since you are well known around the footballing public, have people in the street come up and said hello and asked for an autograph?
C: Because I wear a hat out on the field, people tend not to recognise me in the street. I’ve only been recognised once, outside an MCG match I was attending as a spectator. A young guy looked over and signalled a goal to me before asking me to sign his Essendon jumper. I actually thought he was making fun of me at first – I was so surprised that a footy fan would want my autograph!

J: Do you think goal umpires should have the right to pay free kicks in the future?
C: I have actually taken part in the multi-skilling experiment during the pre-season one year, when goal umpires were issued with whistles and had the right to pay free kicks. Interestingly, of the three games I was involved in, not one goal umpire actually paid a free. Usually, the field umpire is in a position to pick it up. Plus, boundary umpires can now pay frees at stoppages, so there are more sets of eyes to assist.

The role of goal umpires is to get the score right – that means during a contest, our primary focus must be the football, not the players.

J: What does the future hold for Chelsea Roffey?
C: Good question, and one I don’t know the answer to! But my general philosophy is no matter what happens, life is about the way you handle things. So, to a degree you can be master of your destiny.

J: Thanks for your time Chelsea and it’s been great to get insight into a professional goal umpire.