Stefan Grun

Who is Stefan Grun?

Stefan Grun is a former Australian Rules Football field umpire in the Australian Football League. He retired during the 2012 AFL season after having umpired 107 AFL matches and was elected President of the AFL Umpires Association in 2013.

Grun was one of two umpires injured during Round 6, 2004, which was the round that re-sparked debate about umpire-player collisions. Umpires had always been protected, with harsh suspensions handed down to players who collide with them. This incident demonstrated a change in interpretation of the AFL rules by the judiciary.

Grun has had a number of player collisions and explained his most embarrassing moment in umpiring was "Getting smashed by Charlie Gardiner at Kardinia Park in just my third game was quite bad, especially when the newspaper ran a photo of me lying on the ground looking like a curled up dog."

In 2005, Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse condemned Grun and his fellow umpires for their performance in a game against Fremantle. Grun and his colleagues were loudly booed and spat at by unhappy Collingwood fans. Malthouse described the umpires as being too conspicuous and inconsistent on the field.

In 2006, then St Kilda coach Grant Thomas claimed that the umpire's director had acknowledged fourteen umpiring errors in his club's match against Port Adelaide. Thomas told the Herald Sun "Jeff basically acknowledged that there were 14 significant errors in the game and 14 were against St Kilda and none against Port Adelaide and in a four-point ball game we just thought that was quite significant. And he acknowledged it was quite significant and I don't think those umpires umpired the following week, the two South Australian umpires."