Chris Esler became the third boundary umpire to reach his 150th AFL game milestone in the first eight rounds of this season when he officiated the Collingwood v Port Adelaide game on Friday 3 May at the MCG.
“Pretty amazing” is how Matt Konetschka described his AFL journey to date, before taking the field for his 150thAFL game at the Adelaide v Gold Coast Suns game on Sunday 21 April 2019.
Who umpires an AFL match on a Saturday afternoon at the MCG then participates in the challenging Great Train Race on Sunday morning!
Congratulations to AFL goal umpire, Michael Palm who officiated in his 100th AFL game when he took to the MCG for the Carlton v Collingwood match on Saturday. Michael, who hails from SA came into AFL football via country Ballarat then the VFL and onto the AFL list in 2013. Michael umpired a SANFL grand final in 2005, a Ballarat grand final in 2006 before finding his way onto the VFL panel and a VFL grand final in 2012. The rest is history they say. Michael is the 370th VFL/AFL umpire to reach 100 games but only the 131st goal umpire to do it. Well done Michael.
Our next ‘Where are they Now’ is an umpire who officiated in over 441 Victorian Country Football League games – William John Yendle (Bill).
‘Drew’ is simply ‘Drew’ was how colleague and close friend Chris Gordon responded when asked to describe Drew Kowalski. ‘Drew is literally just Drew with everybody!’
I completed work experience with the AFLUA from Monday 15 – Thursday 18 April 2019 and during this time I worked on tasks around the office including being able to attend AFL umpire training which took place on Tuesday afternoon at Ikon park.
Our next “Where are they now?” is a guy that has tried everything with some success. Neil McLean has been a footballer, cricketer, field umpire, goal umpire, Goal Umpires’ Coach and Observer, Tribunal member & Co-Chairman of the Diamond Valley Football League. Neil was also one of the first members of the video score replay team at AFL matches and was recently appointed captain of the Team of the Decade 1978-1988 at the Bundoora United Cricket Club.
Cameron Dore debuted on Sunday at the Carlton v North Melbourne clash at Marvel Stadium. Cameron received Heritage number 444 some 32 years after his father Gavin (Heritage number 308).