AFL Riverina umpires talk about weekend life behind the whistle, umpire dissent and their love of footy

But for those donning the lime green uniforms to officiate local Riverina games each weekend, it's a rewarding endeavour, driven by a passion and respect for the game above all else.

Riverina Umpires Association president Ryan Dedini, who is nearing the 300-game milestone for umpiring first grade senior games, offers coaching and support on top of his full time executive chef role at the Kooringal Hotel.

"I don't do it for the money. I do it for the love of the sport," he said.

Umpires at the highest level have made plenty of headlines this season as the country endlessly debates the interpretation of 'umpire dissent', a recently scaled back rule intended to protect officials from player frustration, and by example, the wrath of crowds.

So, if we only ever speak about mistakes made or controversial umpire decisions, why decide to take up the whistle in the first place?

And what kind of player and crowd dissent do umpires in the Wagga region face on Saturdays and Sundays?

19-year-old Wagga local Callum Logan's passion for the game lead him to umpiring, and despite some of the challenges faced in his nearly 50 first grade games, had no plans to stop anytime soon.

"One mistake of ours is criticised for the whole game, one mistake by a player is forgotten within 10 seconds," he said.

"But I'll keep on umpiring for as long as I can see into the future."

Mr Logan, who is currently studying to become a police officer, said there are pros and cons to pursuing AFL-level umpiring.

"It's a long, hard road to get to the top of your field - it would be incredibly rewarding," he said.

"But AFL umpires are in a lot more spotlight than we are because every one of their decisions is slowed down, replayed, taken back and judged.

"And they've made that decision within a split second."

On this year's much discussed dissent rule, Ryan Dedini said what the AFL thought would positively impact the top level did not translate well to local footy.

"We brought it through to local levels as advised for the first couple of weeks," he said.

"We made a decision, that we filtered out to the clubs, that we were going to go back to the previous year on what dissent was.

"Get rid of all the arms in the air and whatnot, because it was just ruining local football."

AFL Riverina Umpiring Coordinator Troy Mavroudis said local umpires know how to draw the line between natural frustration and dangerous dissent.

"I doubt you'd ever be paying 50 metre [a free kick that entitles a team to gain extra ground] dissent for just a player throwing their arms out and looking at you, that's just not practical at the community footy level," he said.

"But then if you throw in some swearing or some sort of demonstrative behaviour, then yes, it should be."

Mr Mavroudis said he has umpired four local games this season, in each one noticing a good relationship between officials and players.

"In each of those games, there's been some really positive engagement between players and umpires," he said.

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"And there's been some really good two way communication around explaining some free kicks and so forth.

"That's probably something that I've noticed this year is that the players are a bit more responsible around how they approach the umpires with asking questions."

While player-umpire relations are in good stead, the real challenge can often come with abuse from passionate crowds.

15-year-old boundary umpire Aiden Koschel operates close to crowds he said are usually well behaved but can at times be unruly and disrespectful.

"On the boundary, you do hear a lot of abuse to the central umpire," he said.

"I used to do junior field [umpiring] and my dad was telling me one time how this old guy was going off at me and my mate."

Wagga Tigers first grade men's player-coach Murray Stephenson said he's had a mostly positive experience with Riverina umpires.

"It's hard because they're in a position where they're pretty heavily scrutinised," he said.

"There's always players that back chat, and from a coaching perspective, I'm not a fan of that.

"If umpires feel that that's crossing the line and want to penalise it, well, I think it's fair enough.

Callum Logan said that 95 per cent of local players are courteous and at the end of the day, for regional footy played and umpired around the Riverina, it all comes down to mutual respect.

"We can't demand that respect without showing it to the players," he said.

"We've got to show that we're willing to talk to them, listen to them and respect them."

With umpire numbers dwindling in the Riverina region, those at the top of the local field like Ryan Dedini are encouraging younger footy players to join the ranks, make some money over the weekend and get further involved in the sport.

"You gain good life skills like leadership and conflict resolution."

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