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Warrnambool and District Football Umpires Association president Gavin Sell has labelled the umpire abuse during a Hampden league senior football match as "one of the worst" he's experienced in almost three decades.
It comes after the game between Cobden and Portland Tigers was briefly delayed on Saturday afternoon after alleged umpire abuse from spectators.
Sell, who was one of the on-field umpires, told The Standard it was an ugly incident and one of the worst he'd been involved.
"We're trying our best to recruit umpires and in 28 years of umpiring it's probably the worst I've had it to be honest," he said.
"It's one of the worst incidents we've had and we had enough today. You don't go to work and cop this and put up with it. We're basically volunteers giving up our time at the end of the day.
"The fact I've got three young boundaries as well, all just kids, they don't need to put up with this either."
He said recruiting umpires at community level was challenging enough.
"In terms of community level umpires, it's the number one reason they don't return and that's abuse, they just get sick of it," he said.
"That's the stage I'm at. I've got a duty of care as president, not just as an umpire to look after these kids to make sure they're in a safe environment."
Sell said both clubs should be commended for how the situation was handled.
"Both presidents handled it really well and swiftly and we managed to get the game going again quickly," he said.
"So hopefully moving forward we'll get a positive outcome from a negative situation."
Sell confirmed the umpires association would be sending a letter to the league in the coming days to express its disappointment.
"This'll be a warning to the league to say if this happens again, this is what our directive will be," he said.
"I'll be also communicating with other associations, particularly Hamilton to make sure we're united in that as well.
"We're crying out for umpires and this makes it harder. What parent would want to send their kids off to umpire and be called a cheat, it's simply not acceptable."
The match was delayed just before the half-time break with the football umpires walking from the field after abuse from spectators.
Both club presidents, Bombers' James Green and Tigers' Troy Bannam, met with the umpires for an extended half-time meeting and the game resumed in the second half.
Hampden league president Shane Threlfall said it was a disappointing incident but praised the clubs for their handling of the situation.
"The game resumed very quickly which is pleasing, James and Troy did a brilliant job negotiating with the umpires to get the best outcome," he said.
"It's (umpire abuse) something we don't condone as a league and the clubs don't condone that kind of behaviour. We're doing everything we can to stamp the behaviour out.
"As a league, we'll find out more as the week goes on."
Green and Bannam issued a joint statement to The Standard on behalf of their clubs on Sunday, strongly supporting the right for all participants to feel safe.
"The Cobden and Portland football netball clubs always will support the important role that all participants including umpires play in all our games we are involved in," the statement read.
"It was only last week where we celebrated 'community umpiring week' at our grounds. Umpires are an integral part of our sports and without them, our game will be a lost cause.
"The events that took place (on the) weekend have resonated throughout our clubs and it's now time that we place more emphasis on ensuring that everyone feels safe at all our community sporting events."
The club presidents said supporters had a right to be passionate about their local clubs but urged the community to be respectful at all times.
"Both clubs have a very passionate supporter base but in today's environment all supporters must be very mindful in the way we all show our support," they said.
"We all have our own opinions and see things differently, and this will always be the case in community sport, but that does not provide a right for anyone to openly share their views which could be seen as abuse towards players, coaches, volunteers and our umpires."
The clubs said it was paramount comments made from the sidelines were not crossing a line.
"We did not hear what was said and we do not know who said what the umpires heard, all we know is that the umpires on this occasion felt uncomfortable with the alleged comments," the statement read.
"We do believe that this may have been an issue growing from many previous games and this was a last straw.
"From this, we ask all committees, coaches, players, club supporters and attendees to continue to show passion and excitement at the community sports you attend but please be mindful of the comments you make towards a player, umpire or official.
"We attend community sport to participate at various levels, so let's continue that in a safe and respectable manner."
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