Former AFL umpire Dean Margetts is the face of a new campaign launching today to educate people against umpire abuse at the community level.

Margetts, the WA Football Commission’s WAFL and WAFLW Umpiring Operations Manager, told Gareth Parker on 6PR Breakfast he believed the campaign, featuring powerful advertisements, will have some impact.

“Maybe these ads can bring [bad behaviour] to the front of the line and create some change,” he said, after relaying a recent story of umpire abuse at a year 7 game.

LISTEN 👇 to a snippet of the ad and why umpire abuse must stop

The campaign comes following research commissioned by the WAFC at the end of the 2021 season, which found: 

• More than 80% of the football community considered Umpire abuse a serious issue.
• Over half of the WA football community reported witnessing Umpire abuse at 50% or more of the games they attended.
• More than 8 in 10 umpires said they were verbally abused this season.
• Abuse is directly impacting our ability to retain umpires in our game.
• The WA football community identified a wide range of offenders – Parents (51%), Players (48%), ‘Lone wolf’ spectators (48%) and other spectators (47%) as the worst offenders for Umpire abuse.