Congratulations to Nathan Doig who officiated his 250th AFL match at the West Coast v Carlton game on 12 August 2017.
Nathan was awarded Heritage Number 516 and has since umpired 18 finals (now 19 after his final at the MCG on Friday night), 4 grand finals and six Anzac Day appointments during a career spanning 12 years. Like many other umpires, his career highlight was his first AFL game, followed by his first AFL final, then his first AFL grand final in 2011.
Nathan commenced his umpiring in 2002 and following his two WAFL grand finals in 2003 and 2004, was promoted to the AFL panel in 2005.
For those who know him, Nathan is a quiet achiever who leads by example and gets the job done. He believes his success as a boundary umpire has been his work ethic on the training track, his desire to get the most out of himself, and his focus on continuous improvement to ensure he keeps pace with the ever increasing demands of AFL football.
Nathan has a number of people who have strongly influenced his career. His first track coach, a number of state and national based AFL coaches and his fellow boundary colleagues who push him to be the best he can be. He also acknowledged spending time with professional athletes with his employment where he got to see the levels required to perform at such a high level.
Nathan no longer has any superstitions before games, other than standard nutrition at certain times before games. He acknowledges some superstitions are actually more trouble than helpful so he discarded most of them and now focuses on being mentally and physically relaxed before a game. His build up to the game was similar to the other 249 games, relaxed with a couple of coffees, before the game.
He believes his longevity to date has been to also look after himself with lots of massages, self treatment and visits to the physio. He believes he has a few more good years left in him and whilst he continues to be fit and passionate about the game, he will continue to follow that white line down the boundary.
Well done Nathan, on a great personal milestone!
Article written by: AFLUA Marketing and Communications Coordinator, Peter Kelly
