Star

League in turmoil over umpires strike

By Tim Doutré

7th July 2009 11:05:34 AM

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In dispute ... Western Region Football League umpires went on strike on the weekend claiming an ongoing dispute with the league had fallen on deaf ears for too long. 31461

THE Western Region Football League (WRFL) season hangs in the balance after the Umpire’s Association (UA) officially withdrew its services last week, throwing the league into turmoil and forcing the cancellation of all senior matches.

A dispute with the league over conflicts with the AFL appointed WRFL umpire manager Terry Gunn reached boiling point when the UA felt it had no other option other than to strike.

The umpire’s claim a forum to be held last week at which they could air their grievances was not held, prompting the strike action.

The UA threatened to strike in May this year over the same issue and a discrepancy with their pay, but reached a late agreement with club presidents avoiding the cancellation of games.

A WRFL umpire, who asked not to be named, told Star the UA had agreed to continue umpiring matches on the basis that an umpires’ forum would be held with the league.

“The agreement was that we would have a forum which was supposed to be last Monday night and they didn’t hold it,” the umpire said.

“Because of that the members decided that nothing had been done to resolve it.”

The WRFL refused to comment about the issues relating to the strike, but released a statement outlining that the UA had withdrawn its services and that their actions were “inconsistent with the resolutions” made by the WRFL clubs at a meeting on 25 June.

The statement goes on to detail the resolutions: “Specifically, that football should be played in Season 2009 and that an Umpires Forum deal with all umpiring matters for the remainder of the Season 2009.”

The WRFL umpire said the league was pointing the finger at them despite the umpires’ forum not being held.

“They’re trying to blame us for it, that’s for sure. As far as we’re concerned, the agreement was that there would be a forum on the Monday and it just wasn’t held.

“(They gave) no reason why not (it wasn’t held). That’s where the problem was. They decided that the league would just do nothing to resolve it.”

The WRFL statement also said it hoped the UA and member clubs would resolve the matter on or before the next committee meeting - to be held tonight.

A WRFL club president who also wished to remain anonymous said he was disappointed that games had not been played on Saturday.

“As the president of a club, we are very disappointed that no games were played on the weekend.

“Definitely hoping to have everything resolved this week and be back out playing again by next Saturday.

“It needs to be resolved because it is financially very tough for a lot of clubs and secondly and more importantly we want people playing football.”

The umpire agreed. “We want to umpire, it’s been going on for a long while and we just need it resolved.

“There are a lot of problems which have been going on for a long while.

“We are certainly disappointed. We want to be back. I guess it’s more the fact that nobody wants to talk to us.”

The UA will meet again tomorrow night to discuss whether to call off the strike.