Kildare GAA referee has busy month in Australian Rules Football
In what will prove to a be a busy month John umpired at the Euro Cup Championships in Bordeaux France on Saturday - and will quickly follow that up with a trip to San Diego in sunny California for the US Nationals on October 20th/21st.
John spent a long time playing the game and has represented and captained Ireland at International Level – the highlight being winning the International Cup on the MCG in 2011.
After retiring from playing John started umpiring games and moved through the ranks to being one of the top European umpires.
The EuroCup is a 9-a-side one day International competition for both men and women. 14 men’s and 7 women’s will be contesting for the title of Euro Cup Champions.
The teams contesting the men’s title will be the Croatian Knights, Irish Warriors, England Dragonslayers, German Eagles, French Coqs, Welsh Red Dragons, Austrian Avalanches, Scottish Clansmen, Flying Dutchmen, Swedish Elks, Jerusalem Peace Lions, Russian Czars, Czech Republic Dragons and Swiss Mountain Cocks.
The teams contesting the women’s title will be the England Vixens, Irish Banshees, Croatian Queens, French Gaulouises, Swedish Ravens, Scottish Sirens and Welsh Wyverns/Danish Valkyries.
The Irish men will be hoping to avenge the extra time defeat to Croatia in last year’s final whereas the women will be hoping to retain the cup they won 12 months ago.
After the EuroCup, John will be heading stateside to umpire at his first US Nationals. The US Nationals is the biggest aussie rules competition outside of Australia and this year there will be over 40 teams and 1500 players from across North America do battle across four men's divisions and two women's divisions to see who will take home the hardware. The two day competition will be tough under the California sun but it is a tournament that John has long admired.
“I started playing Aussie Rules in Canada after college and won a championship with the Toronto Dingo’s. From the first game I was hooked – the similarities of Gaelic Football and Rugby makes it an amazing sport to play. When I came home I played with the Dublin Demons and won two all Ireland championships with them.”
“After I stopped playing I wanted to stay involved in some capacity and I was drawn to umpiring. Its similar to refereeing Gaelic football but there are some areas such as the tackle, and related to that player safety, that need a lot of attention. Also bouncing the ball to start a game is bloody hard…..”
“There are some Australian Rules Football laws that I would love to see brought into Gaelic Games such as the 50 meter penalty for umpire abuse and the handing the ball back to a fouled opponent after conceding a free.”
“I’m really looking forward to heading to America and see how they handle big tournaments – I’m expecting it to be big, brash and lot of fun! There are going to be some ex-AFL umpires there as well so I’m looking forward to having a chat with them.”
Links:
Bouncing the ball to start the game: https://youtu.be/oqD87w4jNiw?t=25s