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Congratulations to field umpire, Ray Chamberlain, who umpired his 300th game last Friday night at Marvel Stadium when Essendon took on Hawthorn.  Ray’s transition onto the AFL list was a little out of the ordinary.  He wasn’t trialled through the normal pre-season system, rather he was appointed to the list in mid 2004 as the best performing State league Umpire when another contracted AFL umpire walked away from his contract mid season.  It didn’t take fans and the media to look at this little fella running around an AFL ground and want to know more about him.  Ray wasn’t one of your run of the mill umpires, Brian Taylor made sure Ray wasn’t forgotten and nailed a nickname to him, that stuck.  No other umpire since Darren Goldspink has had a nick name stick.  So “Razor Ray” was born.  It was probably opportune that Goldy was part of the Razor send up on The Front Bar on channel 7 prior to Ray’s 300th.  Ray will never die wondering but he is one of the most accurate decision makers going around.  Love him or hate him he is undeniably resilient, having missed many matches with serious leg injuries.  He is also one of the best and has been for more than a decade now.  Ray’s game statistics, 300 AFL matches including 23 finals and 2 grand finals has stood the test of time.  Ray has also sat on the bench as the emergency in another 3 grand finals.  Well done Ray.  Ray becomes the 27th field umpire in the history of the VFL/AFL to umpire 300 AFL matches.

You could be excused for thinking that at the start of the bye rounds, with only 6 games on, that footy might just slip from front of mind as some teams take a well earned rest.  Waking up on Tuesday morning that couldn’t be further from the truth.