AFL Umpires Alex Whetton and Andre Gianfagna, Peter Kelly (AFLUA Operations), Leigh Jarvis with Kiani Jarvis, Rob Kerr (AFLUA, CEO). Daniel Payne (DSV, CEO), Mat Nicholls (AFL Umpire), Mark Piccolo (AFLUA, Wellbeing Programs Manager)

The AFL Umpires have this year donated $8250 to the 2025 Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal.

Each year the Umpires donate to the Good Friday Appeal via the Jeff Crouch Foundation, which was established in memory of former AFL Field Umpire Jeff Crouch. Having been a Melbourne Under-19s premiership player and a Sandringham footballer, Jeff successfully switched to umpiring. He umpired 186 VFL games including five VFL Grand Finals from 1963-1969.  

Jeff was also the Director of the Royal Children's Hospital Appeal for more than 20 years and his contribution to the appeal lives on in the form of the annual donation made in his name.

This year, the AFL Umpires Association launched a Charity Golf Day to help build the size of the donation that the AFL Umpiring community makes to the Good Friday Appeal. On Monday, around 50 golfers gathered at Green Acres Golf Club to raise funds for the three charities supported by the AFL umpires, with the Good Friday Appeal being the focus.

AFL field umpires Mat Nicholls, Alex Whetton and Andre Gianfagna joined the day which raised $14,000 to support the charitable efforts of the AFLUA and current and past AFL umpires.

Following the golf, the highlight of the luncheon was hearing from two dads about the support the Children’s Hospital has provided their children and families.

Leigh Jarvis, father of Kiani Jarvis, told the story of Kiani’s battle with leukemia. More of Kiani’s story can be found here.

Daniel Payne, CEO of Down Syndrome Victoria (DSV), also spoke about how important the hospital has been in its support for his daughter Holly, who has Down Syndrome. In a week where funding cuts were slated to some of the support services made available to patients and their families, the stories underlined the importance of supporting the Children’s Hospital charity to ensure it can continue to provide world’s best service for the children of Victoria. 

Thanks to those organisations that supported the day with City Toyota being the major sponsor. Other sponsors from the day can be found on the AFLUA website and socials.