Ten debutants have made the first cut of the AFL 2019 finals race. Five field umpires, three boundary umpires and two goal umpires have had their performances in 2019 vindicated by selectors and eagerly await their opportunity to perform on the best stage.
It only seems like yesterday that Hayden Gavine commenced his career with the AFL, having been appointed to the list in 2017. Two seasons later, he notched up his 50thAFL game when he took to the field on Saturday 24thAugust to umpire the North Melbourne v Melbourne game in round 23, 2019.
Five hundred and two games after an inauspicious start in a Carlton v Sydney match at Princess Park in 1994, the curtain has finally come down on one of the real characters of AFL umpiring.
A few months back I made a few discrete enquiries as to the health and fitness of some of our veteran umpires when I was formulating a plan for selecting umpires to officiate in the 2019 version of the EJ Whitten match.
The boundary umpire factory of South Australia has produced another outstanding athlete, boundary umpire and more important, a great person. Stand and applaud, 400 AFL games, Mark Thomson.
Spare a thought for second year field umpire, Alex Whetton who weighs 60kg ringing wet when he inadvertently collided with Lachie Schultz weighing in at 78kg running at full pace. Alex was knocked unconscious and had to be assisted from the field. While he did not show any immediate signs of concussion he did in the days following and his season has come to a premature end.
Photo courtesy of: Grant Case
It is with great pleasure that l introduce our next ‘Where are they now?’ member. Our oldest AFLUA member is Roland Glanville ‘Roly’ Caird, affectionately known as Roly is currently 99 years of age and will turn 100 on the 23rdof June 2020.
The celebrations continue for our games record breaker Shane McInerney. Four AFL coaches arrived at training last Thursday night to recognise the enormity of Shane’s achievement. They arrived only to find every field umpire training in one of Shane’s 37 old umpiring shirts with the number 30 on the back. It was a sight to behold.