Paul Kavanagh

Paul Kavanagh was appointed Country Umpiring Officer with the SANFL in 2016. Paul loves his country football and in particular the umpiring side of it. He began umpiring in the River Murray Football League in 1984 and was umpire of the year in 1986. Paul then stepped up to test himself with the SANFL umpires panel in 1989. Paul returned to the River Murray league where he umpired for a further four years totaling 180 games with the RMFL panel. In 1996 Paul moved to the Hills Football League where he officiated for three seasons.

In 2000 Paul moved to the South East and joined the Mid South East umpires panel becoming the panel director in 2001. Paul umpired in the Mid South East until 2015 and in that time produced the ‘Blow the Whistle’ column for the MSEFL Budget

Among the many highlights in Paul’s umpiring career was in 1990 when he was South Australia’s representative umpire at the under 16 National Football Championships in Brisbane. Paul has umpired 15 A grade country grand finals along with many interleague games.