Terry Gunn

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.

Former AFL field umpire and teacher at MacKillop, Mark Westgarth, welcomed Neville Nash (AFL Victoria Umpire Development Manager), John Batty (CEO Western Region Football League), David Newton (Football Operations Manager, WRFL) and Terry Gunn (Umpire Manager, WRFL) to the college recently as the group was taken on a tour of the school's excellent training facilities which will be made available for the students in the academy.
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WRFL Umpire Manager Terry Gunn is excited by the initiative, "After seeing the success of the academies at St Bernards, St Bedes and Parade, I am confident that it will be a real boost to umpire numbers in the WRFL.

John Batty the CEO of the WRFL is pleased to announce that Terry Gunn has been appointed as Manager of the WRFL Umpiring Department for 2007. [FULL STORY]

According to league umpire manager Terry Gunn, the predicament is particularly prevalent at junior level.

"There's an ageing population among our umpires and we don't have the youth coming through," he said.

"It's not unique to the WRFL.It's widespread.
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"We've got a great bunch of people umpiring but we're starting to burn them out by making them umpire three or four games on the weekend," Gunn said.

The umpiring department believes that the standard of umpiring will naturally lift if it can restock.It will also ease the burden on the current crop of umpires over the weekend.

"If we're going to improve the standard of umpiring, we've got to have the tools to work with," Gunn said.
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Gunn said that while umpires sometimes bore the brunt of supporter abuse on the weekend, there are plenty of positive reasons to join the fraternity."It develops their interpersonal skills and gives them the confidence of making decisions under pressure," he said.