It was great to welcome Life Member Bec Goddard back to Canberra this week when she attended our Wednesday night training session.
Most of our current umpires know Bec as an AFLW pioneer who was the inaugural coach of both Adelaide and Hawthorn AFLW teams, including coaching the Crows to the first ever AFLW Premiership in 2017. Bec was also the inaugural coach of the Gungahlin Women’s team in 2008, and took them to the Grand Final where they finished Runners Up for the season.
What many may not have known until tonight was that Bec also had many 'pioneering firsts' in her umpiring career that started in AFL Canberra back in 1999.
Bec umpired 190 matches, including 39 First Grade Men’s games, between 1999 and 2015. She umpired the First Grade Men’s Grand Final in 2012 at which time she became the first woman to umpire a State League Grand Final. She was also the first female field umpire in the NEAFL competition, and was awarded Life Membership of the Association in 2013.
It is alway great to have our interstate-based Life Members back in town, and we were glad to be able to present Bec with her AFLCUA Life Member certificate in front of our #AsOneTeam umpiring community.
