News

Two umpires from completely different pathways celebrated their 100 game milestones on the weekend.  It has taken goal umpire, Daniel Hoskin 9 years and 4 games to notch his 100.  Dan umpired his first game in 2009 from his base in SA.  He went to work and umpired in Qld for 12 months in 2015 before returning to SA where he is now stationed.  Dan worked as a teacher in the country region of SA in a town called Moonta, travelling over four hours return to training each night and games each weekend.  Field umpire, Leigh Fisher played 55 games for St. Kilda before turning to umpiring.  Leigh umpired his first AFL match in 2013.  Leigh has taken to umpiring like a “fish to water”, some would say.  He certainly thrives in the environment and has become one of the first umpires picked each week.  Leigh has umpired 36 AFL games straight and is third on the list of consecutive games as it currently stands.  (Meredith 62, Nicholls 60 are ahead of him) Leigh, like Dan has an obvious passion for football, and we congratulate both of them on their milestone.

Seventeen years on and over 707,000 kilometres of travel between Perth and Melbourne, Dean Margetts umpired his 300th AFL game at the new Optus Stadium in Perth on Saturday night in the match between Fremantle and Essendon.  Both Ross Lyon and John Worsfold congratulated Dean on his outstanding achievement prior to the game.  Dean’s family and closest friends enjoyed the hospitality of the new stadium at a corporate function provided by the AFLUA in conjunction with the AFL to mark the occasion.  (See our video interview with Dean on the website later this week.)