Three of the four finals on the weekend were decided on the scoreboard by over 40 points. Take one look at the results and you could be excused for thinking the games were all one-way traffic.
South Australian based boundary umpire, Mark Thomson became only the second boundary umpire in the history of the game to umpire 400 AFL games in the round 23 clash between Port Adelaide and Fremantle. The other is his good mate and colleague, Darren Wilson. Mark becomes only the 7th umpire in the history of the game to umpire 400 plus games. Nothing short of a phenomenal effort for a man committed to his craft.
Former High-Performance Umpire’s Manager of the Western Australian Football League (WAFL), Darryl Sinclair is finding new meaning in his life working for the Stephen Michael Foundation. Darryl works with young boys and girls at risk. “It’s a beautiful thing we do. We help young people from all walks of life find new meaning through sport,” smiled Darryl as he reflected on his journey through football for the past 40 years. “I have never been as happy, working four days a week, all over Western Australia adding some meaning to the lives of those who are looking for something to do, or just lend a guiding hand.”
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.