NT teen Emma Stark youngest ever umpire of elite level AFL

At a mere 16 years old, Emma Stark has become the youngest field umpire at the highest level of the AFL after officiating* at the Essendon v Hawthorn AFLW game on Saturday night.

The Northern Territory teenager described her AFLW umpiring debut* at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium as “absolutely insane”, after the July call up which left her close to tears of joy.

When Emma took charge of the round one match, she beat AFL umpire Brett Rosebury’s age record by 77 days.

It’s yet another string to Emma’s bow, who made her Men’s Premier League umpiring debut last season at just 15, breaking the league record for a female central official.

Emma, who also played Women’s Premier League for the first time with NT team St Mary’s in 2021-22, joined the AFLW’s umpiring squad along with two other Territorians: Cooper Ranie and Isabelle Rawsthorne.

She told the NT News she got the call up over a month ago from AFL umpiring list and talent manager Adam Davis, which left the teen almost in tears.

“Five minutes in he goes: ‘I was just ringing up to ask if you were interested in umpiring AFLW this season?’

“I was like: ‘Are you serious?’ I was holding back my tears.”

She said her big league recruitment* fitted in perfectly as she had begun to ramp up her running and training loads ahead of the NTFL season which begins in early October.

It is unclear how many games she will officiate this season as the schedule is expected to clash with her NTFL and NT Thunder commitments at some stage in 2022-23.

“I’m happy to just go with the flow, I don’t care how many I get, I’m just forever grateful for being part of it,” said Emma, who began umpiring at the age of 13.

Emma said she was “surprisingly calm” leading up to the match, but the nerves started to “flush through” after packing her bag for the game.

She was equally shocked to enter the stadium and see a crowd of over 12,000, which had swelled significantly over the last 30 minutes before the opening whistle.

“You come out, and it’s double the amount you saw before,” Emma said.

“Going up the race, there were flashing lights, it was just: ‘Wow’.

“It was absolutely insane, I cannot begin to describe how amazing it was walking out. The first ball up, there was this roar of emotion (from the crowd).”

Happy with her decision-making and overall fitness on Saturday night, Emma’s mobile phone was “absolutely flooded” after the game with support from family, friends and wellwishers.

GLOSSARY

• officiating: to be in charge of or to lead a ceremony or other public event
• debut: to perform, appear or be introduced to the public for the first time
• recruitment: process of finding people to work or become a new member of an organisation

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QUICK QUIZ

1. Which teams played in the round one match at Marvel Stadium over which Emma presided?
2. Who was the previous record holder as the youngest elite umpire in AFL?
3. Emma broke the previous age record by how many days?
4. How old was Emma when she began umpiring?
5. Emma made her elite umpiring debut in front of a crowd of how many spectators?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Elite umpire
Umpiring an AFL game at any age is a huge achievement, but especially at Emma’s young age of 16. It requires much skill, knowledge and commitment to reach this level, all of which Emma must have displayed to be selected. She is also playing AFL at an elite level.

Work with a partner and list some of the skills, knowledge of the game and commitment Emma must possess to reach this level of umpiring.

Emma Stark – AFLW umpire

Skills:

Knowledge of the game:

Commitment required:

Personality traits:

Time: allow 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Health and Physical Education; Personal and Social; Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
Should the fact that Emma is female make it even more outstanding that she officiated an AFLW match at 16? Why or why not?

Do you think Emma could juggle AFLW umpiring commitments and playing in the Northern Territory Football League?

How might her umpiring skills and knowledge help her in her own football career?

Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Health and Physical Education; Personal and Social; Critical and Creative Thinking

VCOP ACTIVITY
VCOP dodgeball
The normal rules of dodgeball apply. Two teams throw soft balls at each other and if you get hit, you have to sit out. The team who knocks out all the players on the other team wins.

VCOP challenge: when you get eliminated, collect a mini-whiteboard and a basic clause from the sidelines. Up-level the sentence (make it better) by adding VCOP. When you show the teacher your completed sentence, you can return to the game.

Play for a set amount of time and the team with the most players left on the court wins.