Warrnambool and District Football Umpires Association president Steve Walker calls for more respect

Warrnambool and District Football Umpires Association president Steve Walker believes consideration from spectators is paramount to maintaining and building umpire numbers.

Walker, speaking after East Warrnambool footballer Joshua Stennett was handed a ban until the end of 2021 for threatening an umpire, said off-field abuse was also an issue.

He wants the AFL to play a greater role in stamping out the vitriol thrown umpires' way, saying country and regional areas often mimicked the elite competition.

"I don't think they have done anywhere near enough in terms of being proactive in terms of what goes on from a crowd, commentators' perspective," Walker said.

"If you look at the coaches and the players, they probably realise they've got to be careful with what they say for obvious reasons - there's fines and conduct they've got to display.

"You hear a lot of stuff that comes from commentators and third parties. They seem to have an idea that booing an umpire has been around for 150 years and that it can just continue on.

"The problem with that is you've got blokes who are AFL umpires being professionally paid doing that job in the middle of a ground with 60,000 people carrying on.

"Once the game is over, they're escorted down the tunnel. From a country perspective, people see that on a Friday night, they hear the commentators. They naturally assume that sort of stuff can continue on a Saturday."

Walker said umpire numbers were dwindling and the insults were a deterrent.

The experienced officiator said he understood football was an emotional game and most comments were "light-hearted and a bit of banter".

But he said certain comments, particularly to younger umpires still learning the craft, were harmful.

"We've only got one view of an incident. Something might happen at the other side of the pack that the crowd sees, we're not always going to be on that side to see what happens," Walker said.

"I'd be interested to know how many people out there realise each week there is one senior game of district league football that clubs have to supply their own umpires because we don't have enough umpires.

"A lot of people carry on on the sidelines and they think it's acceptable.

"Ramifications are a senior game of football misses out, we don't have enough guys to put into junior footy and for years and years reserves footy has been umpired by clubbies."

Walker said on-field abuse, such as what happened to central umpire Mick Lowther on Saturday, was also a blight.

He said the two-and-a-half season penalty handed to Stennett was at the tribunal's discretion.

"I never want to see an umpire have to report someone for intentionally making contact, I think that should never happen in the game," Walker said.

"You could see with Mick, it shook him. For a bloke who has umpired for 30 years to have that sort of thing occur it is hard to process.

"I'd never want anyone to go through that, any referree, any umpire in any sport."

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