The Yarra Junior Football League (YJFL) is pleased to announce that Ray Kelsey has been appointed in the newly created Head of Umpiring role.
Ray brings expertise across multiple areas with over 20 years of experience in football as both an accredited umpire and umpire coach. His dedication and knowledge towards umpiring has seen him develop and grow from a community level umpire to an elite level AFL umpire where he umpired 50 games between 1999-2002. Ray also has extensive experience in umpiring coaching at community and elite level where he employs a strong focus on development of people on and off the field. Additionally, Ray has a wealth of leadership and management experience developed throughout his career outside of football.
In his role as Head of Umpiring, Ray will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the YJFL Umpiring Program which includes: policy and procedures, coaching, administration, and recruitment, development and retention of umpires.
Speaking on his appointment, Ray said:
“It’s a really exciting time for me to be able to work with our youth in umpiring.”
“Umpiring is really important to the community and being able to develop that in the YJFL will be an exciting and challenging role.”
YJFL CEO Aaron Bailey said the league was thrilled to appoint someone with Ray’s experience, as the league continues to increase its focus on umpiring.
“Increased investment in umpiring has been a focus for the YJFL coming out Covid.”
“Just like playing and coaching, umpiring is a key pathway for young people looking to participate in our game and it is crucial we invest significant resources in the recruitment, development, coaching and retention of umpires.”
“Ray has an outstanding background in umpiring, including umpiring at both AFL and VFL level and has a proven background in coaching and development in both umpiring and sport.”
It was also announced that Umpiring Manager, David Hannan, would retain his role as Umpire Manager in season 2023.
“David continues to be an asset for our developing umpires, and we look forward to seeing what Ray and David can achieve in 2023 and beyond with our umpiring group,” Bailey said.
Ray will commence in his role on Monday 27 February 2023.
