Field umpire Nick Foot was very happy as a youngster playing footy with his mates at North Hobart while his father coached opposition team Glenorchy. Nick was 14 years old, he played with mates on Saturday and umpired with mates on Sunday.
Highly experienced boundary umpire Rob Haala umpired his 250th AFL game in a significant encounter at the MCG on Saturday night, dreamtime at the G. Rob moves into 15th place in total number of VFL/AFL games umpired by boundary umpires. Rob joins Aaron Deckys (259), Jonathan Creasey (280), John Morris (290), Mark Thomson (307) and Darren Wilson (381) as current running boundary umpires who have more than 250 games to their credit.
“I never expected to make the AFL panel on my first attempt after umpiring the 2011 VFL grand final. I had only umpired 38 senior VFL games and it was my first final series, but you would never turn down the opportunity,” reflected Brendan today when he thought about his introduction to AFL football.
Goal umpire, Steve Williams couldn’t have scripted a better finish to his 100th game yesterday in the Essendon v Hawthorn clash at the “G.” In front of just on sixty thousand spectators Essendon staged a remarkable comeback to beat the reigning premiers. “These are the games you umpire for, to be involved in a great finish makes all the sacrifices and hard work worth it,” reflected Steve today.
We have all heard the accolades Luke Walker has received over his career to date because they are breath taking. Luke steps onto the ground on Monday at the MCG in the Hawthorn v Geelong match. It will be his 200th AFL game which includes 30 finals, 6 of which are grand finals.
Field umpire Troy Pannell officiates in his 150th AFL game this Friday night in the preliminary final between Sydney and North Melbourne. Troy is uncovering some rare earth this season as his finals campaigns in the previous two seasons had not gone this deep.
When you realise that ACT based boundary umpire, Luke Roberts started umpiring in 1985, most of the current group were only “a twinkle in their father’s eyes” as the old saying goes. Luke’s first ACTAFL grand final was two years later in 1987 and he debuted on the AFL list in 1988 at the SCG. Footy was a past time then and while it was a passion for him, there were more things in Luke’s world that took precedence. His nursing qualifications, a very young family and world travel were a few distractions. AFL footy had just entered the Sydney market and was attended by a more inquisitive crowd, rather than the passionate crowd it has now become. ” I was only 18 and had never seen more than a few hundred people at a game before so a 10,000 SCG crowd was huge,” reflected Luke. “My memories are vague and I only remember snippets. Standing in the race next to Jason Dunstall and being dwarfed by him, watching John Platten and Gary Ablett snr taking speccies put me in awe of AFL football.”
Thomo believes umpiring is etched into his DNA. “I have spent more time in my life umpiring now than not. I just love it, I am challenged every time I walk out onto a ground.” The passion and enthusiasm in his voice is unbridled.
When anyone spends any length of time out of the game they love and are so passionate about because they are injured they can become dispirited and disillusioned. The game they have worked so hard to be a part of can seem so far away. Negative thoughts about am I good enough, can I overcome this injury invade your everyday life, whereas when you are upbeat and getting selected each week these thoughts never enter your head.