When Michelle Johnson was an 18-year-old defender playing in a local netball competition in Melbourne's northern suburbs, she received an invitation she could not only refuse but, initially, did.
“The association needed umpires and I said ‘ooh, I can’t do that!’,’’ she recalls, laughing. “And they said ‘yes you can’.’’
Four decades later, Johnson still can, and still does, umpire at Slater Reserve Netball Association in Blackburn North where she received her B badge 25 years ago. Plus, so much more, as an umpire co-ordinator, tester, role model and confidante to so many, past and present.
The netball future resumes at her Richmond Netball Club home in February; already pencilled into her diary are the assessment dates for a handful of aspiring C-badgers, plus time for the multiple “newbies” who will need her guiding hand.
“I think ‘oh, I need a break, I need a break, I can’t do it again’,’’ says Johnson, the RNC’s umpire trainer and mentor. “But, oh my God, I actually miss it so much because I’ve been doing it for so long.’’
It was not so much her extended involvement that was recognised in the 2020 Netball Victoria Community Awards, but an outstanding effort in the Covid-complicated environment last year. Either way, the “Contribution to Umpiring” crown fits nicely for someone described as an advocate the sport and an agent of positive change.
“Total shock,’’ was the reaction from Johnson, whose reluctant start as a whistle-blower morphed into an income-earning sideline for a young mother and would help to shape the life that followed.
Having been unbadged for more than a decade until her 30s, she graduated more quickly from C to B status, and a highlight was joining the A-graders to umpire a closed-door practice match at Waverley between a New Zealand team featuring the likes of Irene Van Dyk and Vili Davu and the Victorian men’s team ahead of the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games.
Johnson, too, is well-travelled. Stints at Diamond Creek, the Northern Football League and Banyule, for example, plus four seasons in what was then called State League (now the VNL) before an achilles injury intervened. Richmond about 20 years ago for the first time and back again more recently.
“So I’ve been to a lot of different associations, growing umpires along the way,'' she says. "It’s my passion, to give back. I’ve had fantastic mentors who are now in their 80s, so I’ve been through it, and I just love the game so much that I want to give back to our next generation.’’
Never was that more valuable than during the Covid shutdown, Johnson making sure to keep in touch with some of the more vulnerable umpires in her Richmond family. Such as the frontline healthcare worker. The newly unemployed. The teenager grappling with his home schooling. There was netball talk, obviously, but also warm and personal connection.
Johnson completed the COVID Safe Sport Coaches and Officials Certificate to remain up-to-date with best practice for the return to community sport, and worked with the RNA board to consider strategies for a safe and welcoming return to 18/U netball in October, when longer breaks between games allowed for proper cleaning and other Covid protocols.
“It was no score, no finals, no parents,'' says the mother and grandmother of three. "We just had a coach and team manager/assistant in the court surrounds there and it was fantastic to see the kids’ faces. And just for the umpires to blow the cobwebs out with no pressure on them. They were rusty, and that’s understandable but, again, there was no judgment. Everyone was happy. Everyone had a smile on their face.’’
Pre-pandemic, Johnson assisted with re-working the umpire training program to accommodate the hearing impaired, change the thinking around the practicalities involved, and lessen the discrimination in the testing process. Along with mentoring those who are already badged or aspire to be, she has developed and run internal umpire meetings and discussion groups and helped to redefine the RNA umpire training program to be more inclusive of those with disabilities.
Johnson has a deeper connection to this space, having gotten involved with Deaf Netball Victoria early on in her career, as her 31-year-old daughter has been profoundly deaf since birth. Paving the way as inspiration for her daughter, Johnson was an umpire co-ordinator and supervisor for netball at the Australian Deaf Games in Geelong in 2011 and umpired at the National Deaf Netball Club Championships. It seems the passion flows through the family as her daughter remarkably achieved her C badge in 2016.
As a mentor, hers is a simple philosophy: “Just go with the flow. Have a go. Always ask questions. Take on board the advice you get. And enjoy what you’re doing.’’
Also well-known is Johnson’s usual proximity to one of her trusty netball rule books, and during this phone interview - with the 58-year-old in a NSW cafe on her way home from a post-lockdown road trip - we ask whether she has an edition nearby.
“You’ve got me now!’’ she concedes. “I’m on holidays and I didn’t bring it! I don’t have it.’’
That is exception rather than, well, rule. Indeed, being asked technical or interpretation-related questions is another of Johnson’s favourite sports.
“I’ll reply ‘oh, just hang on a second, let me think about that’, because I think I can answer it straight off the top of my head, but then I also like to get the rulebook out, have a look, find it, and then explain to whoever’s asking me where to find it, how to find it, and how to interpret the rule.
“We have many discussions at netball as to how we do it, and some others view it differently, and so it’s always an ongoing conversation and I always say to everyone: ‘no question’s a silly question, so please ask, and if I don’t know the answer, I will always get to the answer.’’
Count on it. That once-reticent 18-year-old is not just a teacher of umpiring but still, after all these decades, a student. One senses she always will be.
WorkSafe Executive Director External Affairs, Sam Jenkin, congratulated Michelle Johnson on winning the Contribution to Umpiring Award.
“It is fantastic to see Michelle staying connected with her umpiring team in what was an incredibly tough year in 2020 with very limited sport."
"The value of a genuine conversation can go a long way in tough times and it’s people like Michelle that help make sporting clubs safe places for the community”.
“WorkSafe has worked hard to keep local clubs connected and we look forward to seeing Michelle and her team umpiring again this season”.
Written by Linda Pearce
