My match day experience: Izaak Frazer

Junior umpire Izaak Frazer was treated to a rare opportunity to join four professional umpires on the field during the NAB Challenge match between GWS GIANTS and Carlton at Manuka Oval.

Izaak Frazer, 14, is a boundary umpire who will graduate to orange shirt this year and tackle his level 1 accreditation.

Izaak trained hard over the summer period joining little athletics to improve his running technique. He is very keen to continue to improve and has made many friends in the AFL Canberra umpiring group.

Luke Roberts (Canberra based Senior AFL Boundary Umpire) has been closely following Izaaks’ umpiring and continues to be a mentor for him.

Izaac recalls his match day experience below.

The umpire experience day was an amazing experience. I am so grateful to have been chosen!

When we arrived at Manuka Oval, we met Jock at the VIP Gate and were given Match Day Official passes, which was pretty cool. 

We met all the umpires and warmed up with them. We were able to go out on the field with them and I did some throw in’s with Cameron, a boundary umpire.

We had our photo taken with some of the Umpires.

We watched the coin toss from the centre of the field, and then Jock led us off to watch the game. 

In the last quarter we sat in the umpire interchange box and watched the end of the game. After the game finished we chatted to the umpires and had the chance to ask any questions.

I learned what it means when a boundary umpire crosses him arms. My favourite part was doing throw in’s and talking and getting to know the umpires.