Adam Coote touched another milestone on the weekend when he umpired his 200th game when Richmond played St Kilda at the MCG.
Adam who has had a widely publicised professional athletics career, finishing third in the 2012 Stawell Gift, commenced his footy umpiring in the Colac and District Football League in 1997. Adam certainly had an immediate influence there umpiring the Colac District grand final in ’98 and ’99. He made the Hampden League grand final in 2000.
Adam umpired the VFL grand final in 2004 and made his AFL debut in 2005. In only his second year on the elite list (2006) Adam umpired the first of his five AFL grand finals. He has officiated in 21 finals. Adam still sits in the front group at training, challenging himself to get better and looking for others to join him. Adam has never done anything in half measures and is a thorough professional.
South Australian boundary umpire, Chris Bull has hit his first notable milestone, 50 games, in the Port Adelaide v Collingwood game on Saturday. Chris commenced his career with the SANFL in 2001. He made his debut in the AFL in 2011. It is a tough gig being a boundary umpire in South Australia with seven umpires fighting for four spots a week. A bag needs to be packed because Chris has umpired in eight games in his home state, one in Melbourne and two in Queensland this year when other boundary umpires have called in either ill or injured. Chris is unfazed by the need to travel because he just wants to umpire a game each week.