West Coast senior assistant coach Peter Sumich headed to South Perth Primary School last week to lend his expertise umpiring an Eagles Faction Footy game.

Eagles Eagles Faction Footy is an intra-school program which offers students of all ages the opportunity to learn the skills of footy in a safe, fun environment with friends from their own school faction.

Now in its fourth year, the Eagles Faction Footy program has 15,000 students participating from 173 schools across Perth. 

West Coast’s principal community partner BHP Billiton has been one of the major driving forces behind the success of the program which not only aims to increase football participation at a grass roots level, but also promote healthy lifestyles through sport.

Everyone’s favourite goal-kicker Sumich was there not only for the Eagles Faction Footy match, but also to support the ‘Umpiring is Everyone’s Business’ campaign, and said it had been an eye-opening experience.

“I had one little kid look at me when I made a decision, so I can only imagine what 100,000 people on grand final day looking at your decisions would feel like,” he said.

“Umpiring can be a tough job, and is something we all have to embrace, as umpires get it right most of the time, and we should accept their decisions.”