On the evening of Saturday November 11, many of Australia’s finest First Nations athletes, officials and administrators gathered for the reconvening of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sports Awards. AFLW Goal Umpire Josh James was among them, having been nominated for the Sports Official of the year.
This one’s a classic! Every year we see Malcom Blight kick for goal after the siren in 1976 against Carlton to win the game. The kick travelled at least 70 meters but almost 5 decades on, as legend grows and the kick gets longer and longer. Blight kicked the ball so far that it travelled over the Heatley Stand and into a tram. The ball was finally retrieved in Flinders Street Melbourne covered in mayonnaise. LOL. Now, the umpire controlling the mark is none other than my next ‘Where are they Now’ in Michael ‘Dinky’ Dye. Michael had the easy job as his partner David Levens had the dubious task of giving the all clear to Goal umpire Ted Johnson, with hundreds of fans on the ground.
The AFLUA was saddened to learn that Life Member and Lifetime Achievement Recipient Ted ‘Teddy’ Johnson recently passed away.
Our X-Umpires’ Luncheons continue to provide a great opportunity for retired umpires to catch up regularly and share great yarns about their time in the game and beyond.
My next ‘Where are they Now?’ profile – Doug Edwin Lamb – has spent 40 years in Football: the first 7 years as a field umpire, with the VFL and the VFLRG, and then 6 years with the Sunday Amateurs from 1954 to 1959 as a field umpire and 1 as a goal umpire; then in 1955, on the Victorian Football League Reserve Grade Umpires Board as Secretary/Manager/Advisor/Observer to young umpires for the next 30 years. During that period, Doug served as the Vice-President of the VFL Reserve Grade League.
Congratulations to boundary umpire Chris Gordon, who will mark his 350th career AFL match this weekend when he takes to the field for the 2023 AFL Grand Final between Collingwood and Brisbane Lions at the MCG.
Congratulations to the umpires selected to the 2023 AFL Grand Final between Collingwood and Brisbane at the MCG on Saturday.
Congratulations to the 24 umpires who have been selected as part of the officials’ panel for the 2023 AFL Preliminary Finals, which will be played across Friday and Saturday (22-23 September 2023).
Well, here we go! If my next ‘Where are they Now?’ profile is not an umpiring man, then I have not seen one.