Henty president Matt Kilo says "it is a blight on the competition" not to have AFL North East Border Umpires officiate all senior Hume league matches.
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In a major talking point of the opening round of the Hume league, the Henty and Murray Magpies alongside the Osborne and Howlong clashes were both officiated by club umpires.
Kilo and regular Murray Magpies reserves club umpire Glenn Teesdale alongside Hume league umpires adviser Adam Larkin were in charge of the match at Henty.
"As the president of Henty Football-Netball Club, I was disappointed not to have official umpires," Kilo said.
"I believe the Hume league is a strong competition and I think all the presidents in the league would agree that we should at least have official umpires for the seniors.
"I think it is a blight on the competition not to have official umpires in the seniors.
"I also think it is a little bit disrespectful by whoever makes the decision to allocate umpires.
"You have official umpires in the reserves and thirds in the O&M and other competitions that have official umpires in the reserves.
"That shouldn't be happening in my opinion and any first grade competition should get preference over any reserve grade or thirds competition."
Kilo stressed it wasn't the fault of Hume league officials.
"It's not the league's fault, I think we have been let down by the AFL North East Border Umpires," he said.
"I understand that there may be a shortage of umpires but seniors in both the Hume and Tallangatta leagues should be filled first after the O&M.
"My question is if the AFL NEB Umpires knew by 6.30am on Saturday morning that they were an umpire short, why couldn't they replace him with another umpire that was officiating a lower grade?
"I've already had conversations with the league, so they are aware of the problem and are looking for solutions.
"They are not happy with the situation either.
"I have no dramas with club umpires doing the lower grades but you should have independent umpires in the seniors."
League president Phil Bouffler confirmed he was aware of the situation that unfolded at both the Hume league matches.
"I can't say too much about it at the moment other than the league is aware of what happened," Bouffler said.
"I'm still unsure if there is a shortage of umpires but we will be taking steps to ensure it doesn't happen again.
"I had quite a few phone calls about it but we think we have a solution but I can't elaborate much more at the minute."
AFL NEB Regional Manager Zac Hedin said the number of field umpires available was similar to last season but unavailability and illness had caused a shortfall on the weekend.
"The number of field umpires at this stage are identical to what we finished up with last year and is around 80," Hedin said.
"That should be enough to cater for most weekends.
"Having an extra O&M fixture this year is a challenge because more umpires are needed to cover that.
"But the issue on the weekend was that we had 10 umpires unavailable and then had a few more pull out due to illness.
"That impacted a couple of Hume league matches as well as a few in the O&K.
"I can't guarantee that it won't happen again this season but I think it was more of a one off situation.
"We have also had a discussion with the umpiring group on how we appoint umpires and allocate them to various competitions.
"We are hoping going forward there will be limited examples of senior matches not having an official umpire.
"That will be our priority."
