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
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.
Sixteen years in elite sport, maintaining a very high level of performance, balancing work and life are all the battles that Dan faces each week and indeed each year to keep his spot on the goal umpiring panel. Two hundred and fifty games is a mammoth games tally, indeed only 16 goal umpires have gone further than 250 games. Only one current umpire, Chris Appleton, 279 games has done more. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride is also a saying that Daniel can be labeled with. His career finals number eight, but his near misses are too numerous to note. Remember only eight goal umpires each year form the finals panel. Only six current goal umpires have umpired a grand final. Mention Dan’s name to anyone and he is regarded as one of the best. Well done Dan.
Rob O’Gorman’s quietly passed his 100thgame milestone when he took to the field for the Fremantle v Carlton game on Sunday 30thJune.
Our WA based brothers, Jeff and Brett Dalgleish just keep racking up the milestones. Jeff passed the 200-game mark five weeks ago, now Brett has notched up his last Friday night in the WCE v Collingwood tussle at Optus Stadium. Brett becomes the 144th umpire to reach 200 games but only the 50th boundary umpire. More importantly they become the first brothers in VFL/AFL history to each umpire 200 games. A truly amazing feat. Both men have featured prominently in finals as well over the last few years. Jeff has umpired 6 finals including the 2015 grand final while Brett has racked up 14 finals including the emergency grand final umpire in 2017 and 2018. Neither of them look like slowing down soon. Let’s see where to next for our brothers in arms.
What a great gesture from the Bulldogs and Geelong players to form a guard of honour to recognise Shane McInerney’s record breaking game. It showed all class from two teams who genuinely respect the role of officials.
I have been extremely lucky in my time in VFL/AFL football to witness first hand the great umpires in the modern era. Make no mistake about it the dedication and perseverance required to be successful as an umpire is no less challenging than that of a player. While you don’t have the physical challenges of the continual battering player’s take you do have the mental challenges to get it right in a very demanding sport.