East Fremantle Development player Basil Thomas to umpire State 16s

The East Fremantle Academy would like to congratulate Development player Basil Thomas on his selection as field umpire for the State 16s game to be held in Queensland.

Below is an interview with Basil from the Umpire AFL Facebook page.

Basil Thomas 

What is your cultural background?
I am from the East Kimberly and Central Desert country.
My skin name is Jugkamuda.
My dad is from the Djaru tribe and my mum is Kija. 

How did u get into umpiring?
I was in my third year playing for the Thornlie Junior Football Club when my mum saw an insert in the club newsletter from the DDUFA calling for new umpires. She called me to have a look and we sat and talked about it for a while. The two major things that lured me towards trying it was firstly, the pay; because $30 a game isn’t bad when you’re in yr7, and secondly there was an umpire who would tend to always umpire the games I played and I looked up to him. I don’t know why but I did. So in the end I attended umpiring training, liked it, enjoyed it, tended to be good at it; and now here I am in my fourth year, umpiring yr11’s and 12’s at the age of 15, with a couple of PSA games on the side.

What do u enjoy about umpiring?
The best thing about umpiring junior football would be the money, although if u asked an umpire, they would try to find something else to be their Number 1. Honestly, the things that I enjoy about umpiring is the amount of control that you have in the game, umpiring together with your mates and the feeling you get when you walk off the field, knowing that the players and spectators are happy with the game just played and the way it was officiated.  

What did u learn out of attending the Diversity Championships? 
 If I were to rank what I learnt from the Diversity Championships it would firstly be the use and operation of the three-umpire system of which they use in the AFL.  Then how to bounce like Mathew Nicholls. The way Boundary and Goal Umpires communicate to each other in scoring opportunities. The techniques used to “Assist” one-another and how to store goal flags so they don’t hang out from behind the goal posts. 

What are you most looking forward to attending the National under 16’s?
The thing I was looking forward to the most has already arrived, and now in my possession, was the gear being sent over from the AFL. Now I’m eager to see how the other umpires attending, stack up, because I believe that they will be at least a couple years older than the two of us attending from the Diversity Championships and I believe that they will be on a whole new level of umpiring to myself. So I am looking forward to just being in an experienced umpiring environment for the week.

Would you like to umpire AFL football one day?
I would love to take a crack at umpiring at AFL level but you’ve got to be realistic in your abilities. I was fortunate to go to a match at Domain Stadium last year as a part of community umpiring round. I was able to go into the Umpire’s change rooms and see how they prepare before a game and it is a whole lot different and more professional than I expected. They are high level athletes just as much as the players are. Then we were allowed to walk onto the field with the Umpires and the atmosphere was amazing, before standing in the centre for the coin toss. After that I’ve had a lot more admiration for AFL Umpires.

If so, how would it feel to be the first indigenous umpire in the AFL since Glenn James?
I recently did not know who Glenn James was till I read some articles about him on the website and I can’t believe that there has not been another indigenous umpire at AFL level since 1985. Reading about him has inspired me even more to umpire at AFL level. I would be honoured to umpire at the same level Glenn did. As a young Indigenous person, I am very proud to hear that he umpired two AFL Grand Finals, because back then he would have had many barriers to break as the first Indigenous umpire. I feel a lot of pride when I hear why Glenn didn’t quit umpiring. In his words, “I’ve never considered giving up umpiring because I wanted to challenge myself.” 

What would you say to other people from indigenous backgrounds considering umpiring?
I would say that if you want to do it, why not? There is no shame in doing something different from your friends. Take the opportunities that are given to you, so you can take umpiring as high as you want to. Whether it’s District, State or AFL level; enjoy it and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t. Because you can. 

(Umpire AFL, Facebook page, May 27, 2016)