Ask Rob Taylor what his best or most enjoyable game was and he fires right back without any ego “I haven’t had it yet!” Rob goes on to say, “there were plenty of times in my short career when I didn’t think I’d make it to 50.”
Who was the last 21 year old with fifty games of AFL experience under his belt? Chris Simms maybe? Not sure really. One thing I do know is that this quietly spoken university student is passionate about a few things and one is certainly his footy.
School holidays mean a lot to our teaching colleagues, they can simply pack up and head home. What makes these holidays especially sweet for boundary umpire Shane Thiele is that he gets to umpire his 100th game in his old home state. “The SA guys have bent over backwards to help me achieve the milestone in SA and to do it in a showdown is even better,” said an excited Shane today when we called. Did we interrupt anything important? “No I was just watching Fox Sports News, I’m already home and kicking back.”
Queensland boundary umpire, Nick Wade achieves his 50 game milestone this weekend when Brisbane plays North Melbourne at the Gabba.
When first gamer Robert Whitehead walked onto the ground at Metricon Stadium last Saturday evening he allowed himself a look back up into the crowd to see his sister. It was she after all that introduced him to AFL football and goal umpiring. They even umpired community footy together in Queensland. They are each other’s biggest fans.
Evergreen boundary umpire, Luke Roberts breaks the all time number of games record by a Sydney/ACT based umpire in this weekends, GWS v Carlton game at Giants Stadium.
Boundary umpire Gerard Large surprised us all when he was called in to replace an ill Chris Esler on Sunday to officiate in his 150th AFL game. Gerard, who describes himself as a solid umpire is extremely resilient having only missed 2 games in 12 years due to illness.
Looking for someone to take into battle who has the qualities of resilience, an ability to perform every action under immense scrutiny and pressure but who has the strength of mind to fight to retain his place on the list, then Graham Bergroth is your go to man.
Chatting with Jason Armstrong (JA) you are disarmed by his cheerful disposition and lack of pretence. “Yeah I did an under-18 grand final with Matty Stevic and Cam Blanchard, not sure what year. I did a VFL grand final but it was only after my third trial out of Queensland and a grand final there that I made the list,” reflected JA as he tried to put a timeline together with me for the article. “I know I was 31 years old when I got onto the list, I did my 100th VFL game while on rotation out of the AFL a year or so ago.”