WHEN Melbourne uni student Eliza Broadbent talks of combining a career in the police force with whistle blowing there's no need to take her aside and shake some sense into her. The 20-year-old is merely talking about her two obsessions - forensics and football. God forbid she ever be forced to choose, but if it came to that football would win, hands down.

Last month, Broadbent's fledgling football career was fast-tracked when she officiated at the E.J. Whitten Legends Game at the Telstra Dome - the first female field umpire to do so - rubbing shoulders, so to speak, with former umpiring greats Peter Carey, Andrew Coates and Darren Goldspink.

While the culture of football still seems to reek of machismo, it seems some women are claiming their place on the field, , along and inside the boundary line. In 2007 female umpiring ambassadors and umpiring mentoring programs were launched. Earlier this year, an all-female football academy opened in Essendon, the first of its kind in Victoria, and this month the first ever female umpire panel officiated at all games (under 14s through to seniors) at Queens Park in Geelong.

The number of female umpires in state leagues continues to grow steadily and AFL goal umpire Chelsea Roffey remains a permanent fixture at the MCG.

"We'll never see women play in the AFL, but that's no big deal," AFL female football development manager Chyloe Kurdas says. "At the elite level, there will eventually be a national women's competition."

Times have certainly changed in the decade since the release of Football's Women: The Forgotten Heroes, by former Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy and Caroline Brown. A salute to the "vital roles" women played in AFL, there was nary a mention of umpiring, due to the fact that before Katrina Pressley's 1998 debut as AFL goal umpire at the Gabba there were none. It's a kink the AFL has since been trying to quietly massage out, , although whether its motives are more to do with political correctness or expediency is still up for debate.

As the Inquiry into Women in Sport and Recreation in Australia 2006 was told, there were 6 million spectators at the matches in the 2005 season and 40% of them were female.

AFL umpiring development manager Neville Nash says that over the past four years the AFL has broadened its recruitment strategy considerably, with both the new Essendon academy and the mentoring program launched with an eye firmly on the future. "It's very likely that we will see a female AFL field or boundary umpire in the next few years."

This is also due in no small part to the efforts of Chelsea Roffey. As the veteran of some 40 AFL games, Roffey has found her niche behind the goal posts, but still struggles with being its sole poster girl.

"While I expect that my role would naturally include a certain degree of 'cheerleading', I consider it to be more important to recognise that women are capable and the opportunities are there if they want to be involved."

According to AFL umpire manager Jeff Gieschen, Roffey's presence on the field sends a clear message to women looking to pursuing a career in umpiring. "It's my belief that the introduction of female umpires at all levels has been good for the game. It's increased the umpiring pool, and the bigger the pool of umpires the better the standard."

Regional leagues have long thought laterally when looking to increase their pool of umpires. The oldest surviving umpiring organisation in country Victoria, the Geelong Football Umpires League (GFUL) has become one of the largest umpiring groups in Australia, second only to the AFL, according to its website. GFUL general manager Bill Fulton (coincidentally, the force behind the all-female umpire event in Geelong last month) is arguably female umpiring's most vocal, if unofficial <0x2014> and unsung <0x2014> ambassador.

"I'm very passionate about this. We've recruited over 20 young women since last year. We also have a woman goal umpire who's in her mid-50s and doing a very good job," Fulton says.

Still, it's a dirty job. Not only do field umpires need eyes in the back of their heads, all AFL umpires are required to maintain a high level of fitness (including skin fold tests four times a year) and cop more than their fair share of flack from players, commentators and spectators alike. It's not just the verbal missiles they're forced to dodge, either, as Roffey discovered recently when she was unintentionally hip and shouldered by Carlton player Jarrad Waite (a suitably repentant Waite apologised profusely afterwards).

Young or old, male or female, who on earth would want a guernsey? Roffey makes no secret of the fact that first and foremost you have to love the game, but the main attraction for her is that it offers a level playing field.

"In umpiring, the expectations are the same for women as for men, at training and during games," she says. "In my view, it's essential that women rise to the challenge and let their actions do the talking on the field and at training. I think that's what gains support and encourages positive perceptions in the community."

For unbridled, and unparalleled, enthusiasm you can't go past the GFUL's online recruitment ad: "Football Umpiring is a fantastic way of keeping fit, meeting new friends and getting actively involved ... and as an added bonus, you get paid. No wonder Football Umpiring is 'Footy's Best Kept Secret'."

Eliza Broadbent may well be its not-so-secret weapon. As a senior reserves umpire with the Eastern Football League, an official AFL umpiring ambassador and one of 11 umpires currently at the Essendon academy, her diary is crammed with training and mentoring sessions (with the odd contact hour or two at university thrown in). "I was nominated for the VFL trials later this year, and once you get into VFL it's just a matter of trying to work your way up the ladder and getting some really good games. After that, who knows?"

It's a rhetorical question, of course. Having already made the move from local footy ground to the Telstra Dome, Broadbent has the MCG well within in her sights, although she may have to get in line. On field is where the action is, and rumours have it that Roffey is on target to swap the flags for the whistle in the near future.

Not so long ago suggesting a woman, let alone two, grace the hallowed turf of the 'G would have been met with a deafening silence. Soon it could well be the roar of the crowd. Who knows? Maybe even one day in September.

On August 23 an all-female panel will officiate at the all-female curtain raiser to the Port Adelaide and Melbourne game at AAMI Stadium in Adelaide.