Our WA based brothers, Jeff and Brett Dalgleish just keep racking up the milestones. Jeff passed the 200-game mark five weeks ago, now Brett has notched up his last Friday night in the WCE v Collingwood tussle at Optus Stadium. Brett becomes the 144th umpire to reach 200 games but only the 50th boundary umpire. More importantly they become the first brothers in VFL/AFL history to each umpire 200 games. A truly amazing feat. Both men have featured prominently in finals as well over the last few years. Jeff has umpired 6 finals including the 2015 grand final while Brett has racked up 14 finals including the emergency grand final umpire in 2017 and 2018. Neither of them look like slowing down soon. Let’s see where to next for our brothers in arms.
Adam Coote has moved into equal 7th all time games record for boundary umpires with Des Fitzgerald on 312 games. Dillon Tee got a late call up to the Geelong v St Kilda game for his first of the year coming off the back of a debilitating injury osteitis pubis over the preseason. Welcome back Dillon
It was great to catch up with our Adelaide based umpires after the game between Pt Adelaide and Brisbane on Sunday and then at training on Monday evening. Their preparedness to get onto the training track less than 24 hours after a grueling game and in cold and wet conditions speaks volumes for their perseverance and commitment. On the other hand, it was a slow trip home for many of our field umpires who travelled interstate over the weekend with wild weather conditions delaying planes for over 2 hours in some states.
It was fantastic to see our Down Syndrome South Australia participants go at it during half time in the Pt Adelaide v Brisbane match. SA umpires’ manager, Shane Harris works to offer this opportunity to our Down Syndrome partners in SA. Ten participants had the time of their lives playing in a grid game in front of over 30,000 spectators. They were all loudly applauded when they left the oval at half time.
Our Fiona McBurney Match Day assistant trainer, Hugo Taheny is also one to watch. Hugo is about to leave Australia for the world games where he is participating in the shot put, discus and 100 metres. An avid Pt Adelaide supporter his family all came along to the game to support Hugo. It is fair to say that Hugo was subdued after the game with his team not winning the game.