Yet more and more country leagues are struggling to find umpires.

In 2021, western Victoria's Horsham District Football Netball League reserves competition, teams had to nominate a player to take the role of boundary umpire during matches.

It was a contentious wave, but how else are leagues working to nullify an umpire shortage?

According to Victoria's AFL Wimmera Mallee Umpires Association Cam Pickering, one answer can be found in schools.

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"Schools are a really lucrative way for us to recruit," Pickering said.

"Normally the pathway involves being a boundary umpire, and if you show capacity and enthusiasm you would move into the field umpire ranks."

"Field umpires are the harder ones to come by; it's the most challenging of the three disciplines."

Pickering said targeting youth had an advantage for umpiring- an unbridled passion for the game.

"Kids are either one of two things, they're either footy fanatics or tragics and are looking for some other way to get involved with the game, or develop their game," he said.

"By boundary umpiring for a handful of games, they can learn to read the play in a non-pressure environment.

"They can also watch their heroes go about their business up close; see what they do, what they say and how it can help them develop their own game."

"It also allows kids to earn a bit of pocket money at the same time, without having to go and work at Target or McDonalds."

Pickering said that umpiring could also be a route that young people could take if they weren't sure what sport they wanted to play.

"Maybe they're not into sport at all, or they're not quite there with their confidence and self-esteem... umpiring just gives them another chance to remain healthy and develop some skills and confidence."

However, recruiting umpires young doesn't come without drawbacks.

"The problem is the high turnover of youth in the community.. .they move away for school or work," Mr Pickering said.

"The thing that we're really big on is building a culture where people want to come back."

"Our goal is to, between us and other groups a young person may have been involved in, to ensure they would make more of an effort to come back to us because they enjoyed the team we set for them, and conditions that they had and the respect they got given by the leagues."

"That's incredibly important."

Similarly, basketball is another sport targeting youth as a way to fill referee roles within games.

Victoria's Ararat Basketball Association's Nick Carthew detailed the ABA's referee recruitment process.

"Generally we recruit by sending out a request on social media, looking for people who have an interest in the sport and an interest in refereeing," he said.

"In most cases, we generally get teenagers who have been playing (basketball) for a few years, and who have that interest and also an interest in making a few dollars."

Carthew explained that referees are graded on a scale, from a trainee 'green shirt' to a full black and white kit.

"People sign up, if they're new to refereeing we put them through a Level O course, which certifies them to referee as a shadow," Carthew said.

"You have a green shirt and have a senior referee appointed to you, who would shadow you for a period of time until we've got confidence you can referee on your own."

"Once you're at that level, we bring in an independent grader and they would then review your progress."

Although the ABA does advertise, as with AFL, basketball is struggling to fill referee holes in regional areas.

"It's never enough, I find myself refereeing the majority of games that are played in Ararat, because we just don't get the numbers," he said.

"Right now, we're nearly at the point where we need to forfeit games or postpone games because we don't have the referees, that's the sad part about it."

Sometimes potential referees just aren't the right fit, Carthew said.

"We have kids have a go it, or sometimes even adults having a go at it and it's just not for them."

Another aspect making referee retention difficult can be the turbulent nature of spectator sport.

"It is a difficult job to do, particularly depending on the culture of the association involved," Carthew said.

"Players and spectators can get a bit worked up from time to time, it's a real skill set managing all of that.

"One of my jobs as a committee member and referee coach is to work with the community so they're not worked up over referee decisions and that sort of thing.

"That's probably one of the most challenging aspects."

However, despite the difficulties of the role Carthew said he loved being an umpire.

"It's also very rewarding, I really enjoy it."