Football body tells coaches not to shake umpires’ hands amid reports of post-game criticism

The WA Football Commission has asked coaches of some junior teams not to shake hands with umpires after games amid concerns the interaction is being used to criticise or berate young umpires.

Troy Kirkham, executive manager of game development and community football at the WA Football Commission, told Nadia Mitsopoulos on ABC Radio Perth the trial initiative was in response to a concerning trend reported by umpires at junior games.

“[We’ve heard] over the last month or so about coaches that have been using the handshake at the end of the game to either criticise, or have a crack at, a junior umpire’s performance during the game,” Mr Kirkham said.

“We’re going to pilot that after a game, the umpires or the coaches aren’t required to go and shake the umpire’s hand. 

“We’d prefer them not to.

Mr Kirkham said the action was designed to protect junior umpires, often teenagers, from a negative experience.

“We’ve got to remember that these are junior umpires, they’re 13, 14, 15-year-old kids that are learning to umpire the game,” he said.

“When they get criticism like that or they get advice, in inverted commas, from coaches, it’s not required.

“There’s mechanisms post-game for the coaches and clubs to provide feedback on the umpires, which can then be taken over into their training and education sessions.”

He said the new measure was designed to improve the atmosphere at junior-level games, along with measures that had been taken to monitor the behaviour of spectators and parents.

He said ensuring umpires had a positive experience was also important in retaining them and helping them develop into experienced referees.

“It [the criticism] creates an environment where our junior umpires feel intimidated. They feel a little bit threatened,” he said.

“We know if we can retain junior umpires for over 12 months, then we’ve got a greater chance of retaining them longer term, which means that we’re getting better umpires come through the system.”

Players will still shake hands

The no-handshake policy will just be a trial and not involve all clubs, to allow the commission to evaluate its effectiveness.

“We want to pilot it, see what the outcomes are from it and continually speak to our umpires as well about the environment that’s been created for them and the experience that they’re having,” he said.

“We want to continue to make sure that we’re creating the right environment.”

Mr Kirkham said players would still be encouraged to shake umpires’ hands at the end of a game.

“We know that the kids are generally similar age or a couple of years younger, so we’ve got no issues with that at all,” he said.

“And we haven’t picked up any concerning trends post-game with players and umpires.

One ABC Radio Perth caller said he had seen firsthand the impact of coaches providing direct feedback to junior umpires.

“The umpires that have been subjected to the negative are in general young district umpires who are developing their skills,” James said.

“I witnessed it with my own child who is in his second year of umpiring, and on his third game of a particular year level was given an earful of criticism and it did knock his confidence.

“If coaches and teams have feedback for umpires, they do have the opportunity to give it, it just needs to be through the right channels, not directly to a young kid who’s still learning.”