AFL umpire to wave Bunbury flags

The South West Football League will enjoy the services of an AFL standard goal umpire for the first time this weekend with Mathew Wilson standing between the poles at Hands Oval on Sunday.

An Adelaide resident, Wilson is not required for the second week of the AFL’s split round 18 after umpiring in Port Adelaide’s thrilling last gasp victory over Melbourne on Sunday.

“There is no AFL match in Adelaide this weekend so my wife and I decided to visit her family in Bunbury so that they can meet our six-week-old son, ” Wilson said.

“I still need to keep up my fitness while I’m over there so I made contact with Jason Crowe at the South West Football League Umpires Association to ask if I could train with them.

“Jason said I was welcome and asked if I’d like to umpire a game on Sunday which I agreed to.”

Wilson has officiated in 32 AFL games since being elevated to the top flight in 2011 but this weekend’s league clash between South Bunbury and Busselton will be the first time he umpires a game of country football.

“I started umpiring in 2000 in the junior grades and worked my way up the SANFL ranks eventually doing the league grand final in 2010, ” he said.

“The one thing that clearly stands out for me from my first AFL game is how quickly the game moves compared to SANFL league.

“As soon as the ball is bounced it is just ballistic and there is always a mixture of nerves and excitement until you get the first decision out of the way and realise it is the same game you’ve been umpiring for years.”

Crowe said the SWFL umpires were looking forward to training and working alongside Wilson after returning from a successful showing at the Landmark Country Football Championships earlier this month.

“We had 18 umpires go to Landmark and 15 that did grand finals, with four umpiring the division one grand final, ” Crowe said.

“Field umpires Glenn Omodei and Adam Hauswirth both did their second division one grand finals while Glenn Swann and myself were the goal umpires.”