Females in the AFL

[maccatak11]

Women umpires? Im fine with that.

Women commentaters? Im fine with that.

Kellie Underwoods monotone, excitementless, constant calling the wrong name of players calls?

I ain't fine with that!!!!

She is awful, and not cos she is a female.

Trishan, bombers fan? That explains alot.

I like this post. Just because Kelli is a bad commentator, that is not a reason to say women should be excluded from all roles within football.

Hell give me kelli underwood over Drew Morphett, Tim Gosage, Glen Jackovic or Michael Christian ANYDAY! Those guys tilt my socks off.

[RedheadsRock]

I would love to see someone tell Jenny Williams that women have no place in the AFL, or that she got her job at Port Adelaide because she is Mark's sister.
She is one of the most passionate, inspiring and knowledgeable people working in the AFL.... oh & she just happens to be a woman!

[bennymacca]

glenn jackovic is the worst commentator on the planet.

and trishan, your comments are waaay off the mark

for some reason you think the women are there due to some sort of tokenism, but that is very far from the truth.

i am wondering your motives for picking this one mistake out of about 10 that i could name in the past few weeks.

My personal opinion is people can choose what they wish to do whether it is umpire AFL matches, lead the country or work in the mines as long as they have a passion for it and are just as qualified/experienced to do so. The fact that this female umpire made a mistake in an AFL match has nothing to do with the fact she is a female, but the fact that she is human.

excellent post vic, spot on. there is no doubt at all that this woman is appropriately qualified. everyone makes mistakes.

[trishan]

I think a lot of you have missed my point. My point is the AFL should look at the available umpires and choose the best umpires from this pool based on merit as opposed to gender.

I don't think anyone will disagree when I say the game has historically been male-dominated. For this reason there are significantly more male umpires who have worked their way through junior AFL to senior AFL. Females simply haven't had the time to go through the system.

The AFL selected from a limited number of females who had not gone through the system as male umpires had done. They had selected females in order to promote gender equality even though there were more experienced male umpires who had were rejected. This is the definition of sexism - selecting someone based on their sex rather than their suitability for the position.

Umpires making mistakes are part of the game as I acknowledged in my first post. However the frequency and extent to which poor decisions are made is related to experience. No one can say otherwise: the less experience you have the more likely you are to make a mistake. Basically female umpires have jumped ahead of male umpires who have worked their way through the system and are more experienced only because the AFL wants to have female umpires in the league.

Now in the future, as more females start their umpiring at lower levels and work their way through the system, the AFL will be able to select from a pool of equally skilled and experienced umpires to choose the best candidate based on experience.

I am definitely a supporter of gender equality which is why I am making this argument. I stick with what I said and find it hard to believe why people are saying I am sexist when it is clear (or should be to those who read it carefully) that I am not. "I am not being sexist in any way but umpiring positions should be judged on merit. It just seems the AFL, armed with some notion of gender equality, are heedlessly pushing inexperienced female umpires into the game and poor decisions are inevitable"

No one has yet given a valid argument as to why my opinion may be flawed. I am open to discussion but some people have just said I am sexist without examining exactly what I am saying. Perhaps this post might clear up my view.
Disclaimer: Yes I am an Essendon supporter and while I dislike umpires in general, the Neagle goal was just an incident I thought could raise discussion about an issue in AFL.

[trishan]

How is a female umpire any different to an inexperienced male umpire also just starting out?

BTW, female AFL leagues do exist so you cannot say that female umpires who have played for years are "inexperienced"

My argument here is based on the assumption that the AFL have selected female umpires, not because they are experienced, but because they are female (in an attempt to promote gender equality). I want the AFL to select the best of the available umpires based on skill and experience.

Female AFL leagues and female umpiring in lower levels is fairly new and so there are much more experienced male umpires who have worked their way through the system who are more qualified than the current AFL female umpires who have been rejected, not because of their skill, but because of their sex.

[trishan]

That's bull. When you bring the human element into it mistakes like that are bound to happen. I definitely thought you just had a natural distrust of women when I read your FB and jumped on one isolated incident to make point of it. One mistake means women automatically are inferior umpires? Please. Do you even watch AFL?

Umpires making mistakes are part of the game as I acknowledged in my first post. However the frequency and extent to which poor decisions are made is related to experience. No one can say otherwise: the less experience you have the more likely you are to make a mistake. Basically female umpires have jumped ahead of male umpires who have worked their way through the system and are more experienced only because the AFL wants to have female umpires in the league.

[muzzington]

Do you know for a fact she has less experience as a goal umpire than her male counterparts?

[muzzington]

By the way, even if there was a shred of truth to what you were saying, you still brought the point up because a female umpire made a bad decision against your club, who is so far the only female umpire, who has umpired at the AFL level for 6 years.

There is one female umpire in the AFL, hardly a reason to launch into a debate the way you have.

[trishan]

Do you know for a fact she has less experience as a goal umpire than her male counterparts?

Yes. The issue was actually raised by one of my umpiring friends who worked his way through junior and amateur leagues but due to the competition for positions has not made it to the AFL. Basically there are a large number of more qualified and experienced males who are rejected from umpiring the AFL (due to competition for the few available spots).

The AFL basically set aside a few spots for female goal umpires and selected from the pool of available female umpires. At the time the current female AFL umpires were selected, none of the available female umpires had the same amount of experience as the males mainly because of the historically male-dominated nature of the game and late arrival of females.

[muzzington]

It's fucking goal umpiring. If it happened with a field umpire you may have a point.