https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10151573192673209&id=346777198208

Best to read the article originally (from backpage lead before the site crashed) but he umpired our game last week and we have him again.

I don't think he's the best umpire, obviously still trying to improve. But I can understand some bad decisions last week and this week.

In regards to him umpiring last week it makes me wonder sometimes if the really compassionate decision isn't to ask someone whether they want to do something but to tell them they wont be. But that might be best for another day to have that argument.

Ooopphhh tough read. Good luck to the Bannister family.

that is full on.

I don't think he should have umpired, such a weight on your mind is not good.

Each bad decision he did we let him know, would have been better if the umps have him a few weeks off to get his head clear before accepting him back.

That's a terrible story, but surely Jeff Gieschen should have taken the burden of choice out of Jordan's hands. If it were me, I would have appointed a different umpire and let the Bannister family grieve in peace for a week. From a professional perspective, having an acting umpire who's going through all that would surely impair his umpiring ability.

Either way, I wish the Bannister family all the best in the days and years to come.

Very hard read, yes... I hope it reminds those who seemingly get a kick out of showering the umpires with abuse, that these guys are human just like the rest of us. Wish him and his family all the best in getting through what are obviously going to be tough times ahead.

  On 26/04/2013 at 05:14, Chook said:

That's a terrible story, but surely Jeff Gieschen should have taken the burden of choice out of Jordan's hands. If it were me, I would have appointed a different umpire and let the Bannister family grieve in peace for a week. From a professional perspective, having an acting umpire who's going through all that would surely impair his umpiring ability.

Either way, I wish the Bannister family all the best in the days and years to come.

Gieschen put the person ahead of the game. It's a bloody tough call either way; but I reckon it would have been very rough to stand Bannister down. I wouldn't have done so had I been the boss; managers have a responsibility to their subordinates as well as their organisation.

What a sad story. I fought back tears reading it.

No matter what anyone says it is only a game

Tough gig for the ump. Handled himself reasonably well in the circumstances. They're a tough, resilient family and I wish them well.

Wow. That truly is a hard read. Imagine living it.

All the very best to Rick, Jordan and the whole family.

Wow. That is perspective.

Hugging Setanta? Did Jordan give him that first free kick? I kid, I kid.

But did he?

I'm in a wheelchair myself, have been since I was 18 (34 now), I got pretty sick last year, actually I went straight to hospital from the Richmond game in April, I had pneumonia, couldn't breathe on the way home. Ended up code blue, pretty much died, before being saved, had another code blue a couple of days later, spent 2 weeks in ICU.

Watching your friends and family go through that [censored] is worse than going through it. I would have given up but I didn't want them to go through all that for nothing.

I still haven't fully recovered, been in and out of the Austin since, they are brilliant, apart from all this I've never spent time in hospital, but I assume there's not much better care you can get. So Rick is in good hands.

I now live about 10 minutes from Kilmore too, so I guess I felt I relate to this story and had to spill my guts. I hate horses though.

  On 26/04/2013 at 06:12, Deestroy All said:

Hugging Setanta? Did Jordan give him that first free kick? I kid, I kid.

But did he?

I'm in a wheelchair myself, have been since I was 18 (34 now), I got pretty sick last year, actually I went straight to hospital from the Richmond game in April, I had pneumonia, couldn't breathe on the way home. Ended up code blue, pretty much died, before being saved, had another code blue a couple of days later, spent 2 weeks in ICU.

Watching your friends and family go through that shit is worse than going through it. I would have given up but I didn't want them to go through all that for nothing.

I still haven't fully recovered, been in and out of the Austin since, they are brilliant, apart from all this I've never spent time in hospital, but I assume there's not much better care you can get. So Rick is in good hands.

I now live about 10 minutes from Kilmore too, so I guess I felt I relate to this story and had to spill my guts. I hate horses though.

Thanks for the story DA. Funny how you can get "familiar" with a poster through years of forum interaction and feel like you know them - as I have with you - then they post something pretty fundamental about their life and you realise that you know absolutely sweet FA about this person. I don't even know your name.

  On 26/04/2013 at 06:12, Deestroy All said:

Hugging Setanta? Did Jordan give him that first free kick? I kid, I kid.

But did he?

I'm in a wheelchair myself, have been since I was 18 (34 now), I got pretty sick last year, actually I went straight to hospital from the Richmond game in April, I had pneumonia, couldn't breathe on the way home. Ended up code blue, pretty much died, before being saved, had another code blue a couple of days later, spent 2 weeks in ICU.

Watching your friends and family go through that [censored] is worse than going through it. I would have given up but I didn't want them to go through all that for nothing.

I still haven't fully recovered, been in and out of the Austin since, they are brilliant, apart from all this I've never spent time in hospital, but I assume there's not much better care you can get. So Rick is in good hands.

I now live about 10 minutes from Kilmore too, so I guess I felt I relate to this story and had to spill my guts. I hate horses though.

Haha harsh DA, but fair....

Thanks for sharing and hopefully you are on the mend.

  On 26/04/2013 at 06:19, Nasher said:

Thanks for the story DA. Funny how you can get "familiar" with a poster through years of forum interaction and feel like you know them - as I have with you - then they post something pretty fundamental about their life and you realise that you know absolutely sweet FA about this person. I don't even know your name.

I don't know Nasher, I'm just a hilarious mofo that loves footy and music, not much more to me than that. Now you just know how I roll, literally.

My name is All, Deestroy All.

Nah, it's Lee.

  On 26/04/2013 at 06:20, Cards13 said:

Haha harsh DA, but fair....

Thanks for sharing and hopefully you are on the mend.

Thanks Cards, I'm getting there.

  On 26/04/2013 at 06:12, Deestroy All said:

Hugging Setanta? Did Jordan give him that first free kick? I kid, I kid.

But did he?

I'm in a wheelchair myself, have been since I was 18 (34 now), I got pretty sick last year, actually I went straight to hospital from the Richmond game in April, I had pneumonia, couldn't breathe on the way home. Ended up code blue, pretty much died, before being saved, had another code blue a couple of days later, spent 2 weeks in ICU.

Watching your friends and family go through that [censored] is worse than going through it. I would have given up but I didn't want them to go through all that for nothing.

I still haven't fully recovered, been in and out of the Austin since, they are brilliant, apart from all this I've never spent time in hospital, but I assume there's not much better care you can get. So Rick is in good hands.

I now live about 10 minutes from Kilmore too, so I guess I felt I relate to this story and had to spill my guts. I hate horses though.

Stay Strong mate..i am not in a wheelchair (yet...)

get well soon da

your humour always give me a chuckle

  On 26/04/2013 at 06:12, Deestroy All said:

Hugging Setanta? Did Jordan give him that first free kick? I kid, I kid.

But did he?

I'm in a wheelchair myself, have been since I was 18 (34 now), I got pretty sick last year, actually I went straight to hospital from the Richmond game in April, I had pneumonia, couldn't breathe on the way home. Ended up code blue, pretty much died, before being saved, had another code blue a couple of days later, spent 2 weeks in ICU.

Watching your friends and family go through that [censored] is worse than going through it. I would have given up but I didn't want them to go through all that for nothing.

I still haven't fully recovered, been in and out of the Austin since, they are brilliant, apart from all this I've never spent time in hospital, but I assume there's not much better care you can get. So Rick is in good hands.

I now live about 10 minutes from Kilmore too, so I guess I felt I relate to this story and had to spill my guts. I hate horses though.

And I feel bad when we lose a silly game of football!

Hang in there DA

And good luck

  On 26/04/2013 at 06:38, Deestroy All said:

I don't know Nasher, I'm just a hilarious mofo that loves footy and music, not much more to me than that. Now you just know how I roll, literally.

For what it's worth, hilarious mofo that loves footy and music was the picture I had and it hasn't changed :-)

  On 26/04/2013 at 06:42, why you little said:

Stay Strong mate..i am not in a wheelchair (yet...)

Yeah, heart goes out to the Bannister family. Who knows, maybe Jordan umpiring the Dees game was the best therapy for him, at that particular time. Under the circumstances, who gives a stuff about the quality of his umpiring, we can be certain that Jordan was doing his very best on the day. Thanks and best wishes, Jordan.

WYL, I hope I'm misreading your comment above totally - if so, ignore this. But something in it struck me as ominous - I have 2 cousins, one already gone with MND and the other with its inevitable sentence just progressively weakening him. It's an insidious disease and I just hope none of you here who I regard (like Nasher said above) as my "Demonland friends" have anything like this hanging over you.

Anyway, best wishes mate and we've both got the determination to keep going until that glorious day in September does actually happen. Meanwhile, winning up in Brisbane will be especially sweet!

He is doing our game again this weekend

Hard read that and emotional.

  On 26/04/2013 at 06:12, Deestroy All said:

Hugging Setanta? Did Jordan give him that first free kick? I kid, I kid.

But did he?

I'm in a wheelchair myself, have been since I was 18 (34 now), I got pretty sick last year, actually I went straight to hospital from the Richmond game in April, I had pneumonia, couldn't breathe on the way home. Ended up code blue, pretty much died, before being saved, had another code blue a couple of days later, spent 2 weeks in ICU.

Watching your friends and family go through that [censored] is worse than going through it. I would have given up but I didn't want them to go through all that for nothing.

I still haven't fully recovered, been in and out of the Austin since, they are brilliant, apart from all this I've never spent time in hospital, but I assume there's not much better care you can get. So Rick is in good hands.

I now live about 10 minutes from Kilmore too, so I guess I felt I relate to this story and had to spill my guts. I hate horses though.

Thanks for sharing DA. I wish for you a good recovery and you don't get pneumonia again.

I'm sure I'm not on my own when I say, we love your sense of humour.

One thing that resonates with me is the strength of family and friends in such instances. Like Jordan said, it beats even stronger that you'd do anything.

We all think our problems are worse than anyone else's, and then you read that.

Tough luck, breaking your neck, its a reminder how fragile we are.

Looking through the story, I see Darren Bennett listed as a friend of Jordan Bannister, and it seems it is the ex-Demon, WCE and NFL punter.

Appears Bennett has had some tough days as well:

Former Chargers punter Darren Bennett’s sons. Will Bennett, diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy in 2003, coaching brother Thomas Bennett on the intricacies of punting the football.

Link:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151735497367454&set=a.10151734795307454.1073741825.191937972453&type=1

  On 26/04/2013 at 06:12, Deestroy All said:

Hugging Setanta? Did Jordan give him that first free kick? I kid, I kid.

But did he?

I'm in a wheelchair myself, have been since I was 18 (34 now), I got pretty sick last year, actually I went straight to hospital from the Richmond game in April, I had pneumonia, couldn't breathe on the way home. Ended up code blue, pretty much died, before being saved, had another code blue a couple of days later, spent 2 weeks in ICU.

Watching your friends and family go through that [censored] is worse than going through it. I would have given up but I didn't want them to go through all that for nothing.

I still haven't fully recovered, been in and out of the Austin since, they are brilliant, apart from all this I've never spent time in hospital, but I assume there's not much better care you can get. So Rick is in good hands.

I now live about 10 minutes from Kilmore too, so I guess I felt I relate to this story and had to spill my guts. I hate horses though.

Stop bignoting yourself, we all nearly died after the Richmond game (i'm joking by the way). Thanks for sharing.

But for anyone out there the Austin spinal unit is an amazing cause. Don't get me wrong I love the royal childrens hospital and most victorians have a friend of family member who has at one time needed the kids hospital, but when I see them get 15+ million a year for the good friday appeal I think about other services that need it to. The Austin spinal unit deal with these horrific injuries and there reputation for care is first class. Usually people go to hospital to get better and are thankful for it. At the Austin spinal unit a lot of the people in their won't ever be the same but I'm sure as you can attest DA they can come out alive and with a life to live.