There wouldn’t be many Saturday afternoons in football season that you wouldn’t see the presence of Chris Jones on a ground somewhere in the Barwon Region. Chris recently clocked up the remarkable effort of officiating 500 matches of football locally over roughly a 10-year period.

He decided to grab the whistle after a playing career at local clubs Inverleigh, Grovedale, and Geelong Amateur, where he retired from the game in the middle of the 2006. Unfortunately, 3 head knocks over a short period led Chris to hang up the playing boots. This eventually become a blessing for the local umpiring fraternity.

Umpiring certainly wasn’t front of mind or something that Chris had planned to do after footy, although he was missing the game, and was wanting to get active, so he took up the whistle. 

Over his distinguished umpiring career, he modestly described his ability to continue to perform at the highest level through staying fit and undertaking recovery accordingly. “People who know me, know I love running which might be a weird thing to say”. Thios running base, staying healthy and recovery sessions following up to 4 games accross a weekend. “I do a lot of recovery in the sea water at Eastern Beach accross a Sunday. I am pretty sore on a Sunday night” Jones explained.

Despite umpiring his own matches accross the weekend, he also shares his learnings to the young umpires. “The biggest thrill I get at the moment is seeing the up-and-coming junior umpires progress through. I have been lucky enough to have been umpiring for a lot of their senior debuts, which is really awesome. It’s something I take great pride in with coaching the junior development field umpires as well. Seeing them progress to Senior ranks is really rewarding.” Jones stated.

Chris described umpiring as the “best seat in the house” especially being able to watch Mathieson Medallists, Matt McMahon and Harry Benson up close. These were two players who he described as some of the best he has umpired over recent times. 

AFL Barwon Director of Football Umpiring, Jock Hillgrove described Chris as an ‘absolute gem’ in the umpire fraternity.

“He is always available to do multiple games if needed, and clearly having reached 500 games so quickly, it is a testament to Chris’s commitment. He has also been our Field Development Coach over the last 5 years and is very supportive of all those that have taken up field umpiring. He is a great mentor for everyone around him”.

Hillgrove regards Jones as a ‘very genuine well-liked person’ and emphasised how highly respected he is across our AFL Barwon Region.

“I’m so pleased for Chris on his milestone knowing that he has so much more to contribute to his journey as an umpire and umpire coach, I have great respect for his passion and commitment to umpiring “, said Hillgrove.

Jones doesn’t plan to hang up the whistle anytime soon with him, “I have still got the passion in me to continue going”.

The AFL Barwon community congratulates Chris on wonderful achievement and look forward to seeing him continue to set the standards for those emerging umpires. 

This week is a celebration of Community Umpiring across the AFL, if you are looking to get involved umpiring, simply go to https://play.afl/umpire

Barwon Heads v Portarlington

5 Tom Swift (Barwon Heads)

5 Luke Davis (Barwon Heads)

4 Ryley Stuhldreier (Barwon Heads)

4 Teia Miles (Portarlington)

3 Reid Adams (Barwon Heads)

3 James Syddall (Barwon Heads)

2 Charlie Perks (Barwon Heads)

2 Dylan O’Brien (Portarlington)

1 Archie Hildebrandt (Barwon Heads)

1 Charlie Hurst (Barwon Heads)

Drysdale v Queenscliff

10 Ben Fennell (Drysdale)

8 Luke Preece (Drysdale)

4 Flynn Chirgwin (Drysdale)

4 Jack Preece (Drysdale)

3 Jordan McGivor Clark (Queenscliff)

1 Caleb Whitley (Queenscliff)

Geelong Amateur v Ocean Grove

10 Patrick Dowling (Geelong Amateur)

8 Riley Ferguson (Geelong Amateur)

3 Max Sutton (Ocean Grove)

3 Tom Zeitz (Geelong Amateur)

3 Blake Sutterby (Geelong Amateur)

2 Tom Gribble (Geelong Amateur)

1 Brady Pritchard (Ocean Grove)

Newcomb v Anglesea

10 Lachlan Smith (Anglesea)

7 Jordan Keras (Anglesea)

4 Jack Rice (Anglesea)

4 James Carr (Anglesea)

3 Ryan Jackman (Newcomb)

2 Peter Gordon (Newcomb)

Torquay v Modewarre

8 Sheldon Ham (Torquay)

7 Oscar Lewis (Torquay)

5 Matt Farrelly (Modewarre)

4 Matt Boag (Torquay)

2 Baxter Anderson (Modewarre)

2 Weylin Doyle (Torquay)

1 Tom Grace (Torquay)

1 Baxter Mensch (Torquay)

Round 6 Leaderboard

37 Patrick Dowling (Geelong Amateur)

32 Riley Ferguson (Geelong Amateur)

31 Luke Preece (Drysdale)

27 Blake Sutterby (Geelong Amateur)

26 Matthew Boag (Torquay)

20 Ryley Stuhldreier (Barwon Heads)

The Geelong Advertiser Coaches Player of the Year is an award voted by each Senior coach on a 5,4,3,2,1 basis after each home and away game, acknowledging outstanding effort by an individual player in a season.

There are individual awards for the Bellarine FNL Seniors, Geelong FNL Seniors, and the Division 1 Senior Female Football competitions.

AFL Barwon in partnership with The Sexual Assault & Family Violence Centre have commenced the third iteration of the Respect Starts Here Program, a program that supports Football and Netball clubs across the Barwon region to progress gender equality and promote respect within Clubs and Communities. All clubs who participate in the program are working towards a shared goal of creating a safe, welcoming and inclusive club that supports all its members to thrive in their sport and their communities.

Respect Starts Here originally commenced as a pilot program with Geelong West Giants Football Netball Club in 2022, reaching 233 players and coaches. Program participant and Giants Chair, Sarah Naylor, is a strong advocate for Respect Starts Here and has said that that any club in the Barwon region would “benefit immensely from taking part in the program”. Naylor has found the program to be beneficial for her club, positively impacting the behaviour and attitudes players and members.

The program has evolved since the initial pilot, with AFL Barwon clubs are now offered a choice between two streams. The introductory stream, Getting Started, supports clubs who are in the foundational stages of exploring what gender equality means for them. The second stream, All In, is suited for clubs that are ready and have capacity to go all-in. Both streams help clubs to identify goals and actions to support gender equality and build on the capacity of members to stand up for equality and respect within the club.

Ocean Grove Football Netball Club (OGFNC) undertook All In over the 2023 season resulting in several positive actions, such as the appointment of a Club Culture & Wellbeing team. The program had a powerful impact on the Club Action Group, whose members expressed feeling more “switched on” at the club when it came to recognising how things could be improved and done more inclusively.

Highlighting the importance of gender equality and education for sports, an OGFNC club participant who attended the Active Bystander Workshop emphasised that “it matters in every setting, and by making a stance and educating people, we can work towards building a society that respects everyone.” 

The Respect Starts Here Program has reached over 420 club participants over the first two years which is set to expand in 2024, thanks to the support of the Geelong Community Foundation. The 2024 version of the program launched last night at Geelong West Football Netball Club where it was announced that six AFL Barwon clubs will begin participating in one of the two streams of the program this year. Geelong West Giants, Drysdale and Newcomb will undertake the All In program, with Portarlington, Bell Park, and St Albans taking part in the Getting Started stream. AFL Barwon staff will also be taking part in the Respect Starts Here Program this season.

Michelle Gerdtz, the first Female Chair of AFL Barwon, congratulated the clubs involved in the program and expressed that “The Respect Starts Here program is of vital importance, now more than ever before. We simply cannot accept the rates of violence against women.” Gerdtz also highlighted that sporting clubs are seen as a safe space and are “an ideal setting to foster wellbeing, connectedness, and openness”. Gerdtz encourages everyone to “remember that preventing violence against women is everyone's responsibility”. 

AFL Barwon Region General Manager, Edward Wilson pointed out the importance of AFL Barwon’s partnership with The SAFV Centre. Wilson expressed that “AFL Barwon is proud to share a long-term community partnership with The Sexual Assault & Family Violence Centre (The SAFV Centre), who are an important community leader in driving needed change. The Respect Starts Here program is a significant community engagement every year, to ensure members of our affiliated Football Netball Clubs, are respectful members of the community, who can also drive this needed change”.

The SAFV Centre and AFL Barwon encourage any additional clubs who are looking to participate in the Respect Starts Here Program to register their interest here.

Celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and its contribution to our games during the AFL Barwon Indigenous Round. 

Celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and its contribution to our games during the AFL Barwon Indigenous Round. 

Cultural Education Session

At Narana Aboriginal Culture Centre