I put the question to our stats guru David Flegg. Have brothers ever umpired in finals in VFL/AFL history?
David’s response was thorough as expected. Twin brothers, Reg and Keith Pawley goal umpired together in the first ever qualifying final in 1972. It was one of the highest scoring finals ever with Richmond 25.14.164 defeating Collingwood 18.12.120.
This was then matched by Jeff and Brett Dalgleish in the first semi-final on Saturday night when Sydney went down to North Melbourne at ANZ stadium.
Other brothers have umpired in the same matches but never umpired finals together. Roly and Bryan Grant umpired in the 1960’s, while David and Darren Morris umpired in the late 1990s and the 2000s together.
Brett and Jeff will become the first brothers to umpire in a seasons preliminary final although they have been appointed to different matches. As we found out earlier this year their careers have mirrored each other when they umpired their 100th games with each other. Jeff commenced his career in 2009 and has umpired 118 games including 3 finals as a field umpire. Brett commenced his career in 2010 and has umpired 120 games including 6 finals as a boundary umpire. Both boys are from WA.
