VAFA Father-Daughter Umpiring Teams

The parent-child relationship is special in sport. In the umpiring family at the VAFA, we have two outstanding examples of fathers and daughters umpiring in our great competition. 

Firstly, Bruce and Amy Lister love umpiring to keep fit and build life skills. Bruce started umpiring with the VAFA in 2008 and Amy in 2019. “Once I started umpiring, Amy got very interested and started soon after”, Bruce says. Amy recalls that her dad encouraged her to give it a go and once she did, she found the fitness benefits and the camaraderie to be great aspects of umpiring.

Bruce and Amy have umpired several games together which they love doing. “She’s a really friendly umpire to run with; she doesn’t overreact, and the fact that we’re father-daughter, there’s a different understanding between us on the field”, Bruce remarks. 

When speaking to both Bruce and Amy, they noted their similar styles of umpiring, of building great rapport with players, communicating with players on and off the field. Amy reiterates that point: “a lot of my style I model off what I’ve learnt from him”.

Amy loves to see the development of women’s footy in the VAFA, having umpired several women’s games this year, and takes that same style of communication to women’s football that she learned from her dad. “Definitely dad has been one of the biggest influences on my umpiring”, Amy states, and Bruce is proud of what his daughter has been able to achieve.

Bruno Savi and his daughter Charli, 16, are our other father-daughter combo at the VAFA, with umpiring being a full family affair for the Savis. Bruno began umpiring with the VAFA in 2002. Charli then decided that it was a good way to stay fit, improve her own football and earn some pocket money.

Charli says she’s “definitely” following through dad’s footsteps, beginning to umpire in 2022, and she loves meeting new people and learning new things while field umpiring.

Naturally, they’ve umpired some games together; Bruno notes of Charli that “she’s quite good and she manages the game well; she has the personality for it”. Bruno recalls a time during a game where a team questioned a few of Charli’s decisions, to which Bruno responded, “she’s a registered VAFA umpire, her decisions have been correct, and she’s also my daughter!”. 

The VAFA is very lucky to have a culture of inclusion where families can be involved and enjoy their time together; the Listers and the Savis are the pioneers and we hope to see many more father-daughter combos in the future.