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Chasing dreams

26 Jul 10

Growing up with dreams of gracing the ‘hallowed turf’ of the Melbourne Cricket Ground during cold wintery months and the last day of September is not uncommon for the kids of yesterday, today and tomorrow. The majority of kids would (and will) dream of pulling on the colours of their favourite footy team and entering the field of battle with their team mates.
Not so for Jacob Mollison and Daniel Butcher: two field umpires at different stages of their ‘umpiring dream’.

Both Jacob and Daniel grew up in regional Victoria, were keen basketballers as teenagers, played football until their mid teens and now exude a genuine desire to achieve the ultimate as an umpire in our great game of Australian football.

What is the Jacob Mollison story to this day?

To maintain a healthy level of fitness, Jacob commenced boundary umpiring in the Albury League at the young age of 14. After a year, a future as a central umpire came calling and Jacob took his opportunity; commencing in 2000 at 15 years of age.

Such was Jacob’s progression; he was given a chance to trial in the VFL at 17 years of age.
By his own admission it was a tough decision to move down to Melbourne at such a young age. Leaving behind friends, family and some good country cooked meals made the decision to head back home easy at that stage of his umpiring career.

Jacob fitted straight back into ‘country life’, found himself a nine to five job and continued to refine his umpiring skills in the Ovens and Murray League over the next three years.
At such a young age, one could easily be excused for presuming that significant sacrifices would have to be made in order for his goal to be achieved. Fortunately for Jacob this was not the case. The social activities of this teenager were not affected as a result of his ambition given friends were playing football at the time Jacob was umpiring.

Following three straight O & M League Grand Finals in a row, Jacob ‘felt more mature’ and was presented with another chance to establish himself within the AFL system. As a 21 year old this time around and with more experience to his name, Jacob began umpiring in the TAC Cup under 18s competition.

The decision to move back home and improve his umpiring made the transition from senior country football to the under 18s much easier; there was a familiar ‘country feel’. In addition to the ‘familiar’ surrounds and increased maturity, Jacob had support from his then girlfriend (now wife), a couple of other mates and his employer.

Apart from ‘public transport and keeping up to date with traffic reports’ the major difference between the O & M League and the leagues in Melbourne was the speed of the game.
During his first year in Melbourne, Jacob had occasion to take control of VFL reserve matches and also finals in the TAC Cup. After taking giant steps forward in development in his first year, Jacob made the VFL senior squad in his second year and went on to umpire the VFL Grand Final in 2006.

Further development continued in 2007 and a second VFL Grand Final was his reward at the end of the season.

Following successive Grand Finals, Jacob’s quick progression continued with an invitation to trial with the AFL. This trial ultimately led to a spot on the AFL panel resulting in Jacob making his debut in round 6 2008; a mere three years after arriving from country Victoria.
Jacob is now into his third full year of AFL umpiring and will continue to set individual goals over the next three to five years. In the meantime, consistency, fitness, achieving KPIs remains the major focus.

Having achieved his initial goal of umpiring in the AFL, what advice exists for young people learning their craft in the country leagues who are wanting to achieve similar goals?
Jacob is quite emphatic and short and sharp with his responses: “Don’t rush. If you need an extra year at home, do so. Don’t feel pushed. Listen to your coaches. Concentrate on fitness. Be prepared to go back to the basics. You go from the top to the bottom at different stages so be prepared.”

One gets the impression that given Jacob’s background he would be an ideal role model for Daniel Butcher as there is no doubt Daniel is in the position now that Jacob was some five or six years ago.

Daniel is a young, enthusiastic umpire who is endeavouring to obtain an invitation to join the VFL squad in 2011.

In his own words, Daniel was small for a footballer and the frustration of taking on larger teenagers week in week out meant a change in direction in the game he loves.

Football’s loss may just turn out to be umpiring’s gain.

Playing and umpiring football became too much for Daniel in 2008. Since then, he has concentrated on achieving his dream which has seen him progress through the field umpire ranks in his local league.

Daniel commenced field umpiring the reserves in 2008 and impressed coaches and observers to the extent that halfway through that season he was given the opportunity to officiate in his first senior match. A great achievement for someone who had only taken up field umpiring that same year.

Once Daniel reached the age of 16, he started to get serious about what he wanted to achieve with his umpiring. Sitting down and watching field umpires meticulously go about their business was not uncommon for Daniel. When the opportunity arose, Daniel would (and still does) make trips down to Melbourne to watch umpires first hand.

A greater appreciation by Daniel of umpire positioning and decision making has been the result.
Like Jacob, Daniel has great support from family; to the extent that his parents travel the length and breadth of the State to watch him umpire; something not lost on Daniel in his pursuit to achieve the ultimate.

Daniel is confident that he will thrive on a move to Melbourne as a teenager should the opportunity arise. Making such a move slightly easier would be that he loves Melbourne and he has family living here already. Whilst it would be difficult to move away from friends, AFL umpiring is his number one goal and Daniel leaves you with a strong impression that he will leave no stone unturned in his desire to officiate at the highest level.

One only has to look at what he has done in the last couple of years to identify with his passion.
Whilst it is not the norm for the AFLUA, Daniel was able to undertake ‘work experience’ with them. Certainly not your ‘run of the mill’ work experience. Further, he has been able to get to know some of the current AFL field umpires by attending pre-season training.

In doing so, he gained firsthand knowledge of the fitness levels required to ‘make it’.
Despite the enthusiasm Daniel exudes he also appears to appreciate that there may be some sacrifices he may have to make in the future to see his dream come true.

Like Jacob before him, Daniel recognises that his future in umpiring will be filled with obstacles and roadblocks but knows they exist to ensure that the AFL presents only the best in each discipline of umpiring. Both Jacob and Daniel have shown the personality trait to continue to strive even if they do not succeed first time around.

If there are more young enthusiastic confident individuals like Jacob and Daniel presently in the regional and metropolitan leagues then the future of umpiring at the highest level looks promising.

To those of us who have dreamt of gracing the hallowed turf as a player and it remains unfulfilled would certainly give strong consideration to swapping places with either Jacob or Daniel should their dream come to fruition.


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