Following the announcement of the two teams contesting this year’s EJ Whitten legends game we thought it appropriate to announce the umpires who have been selected to officiate in this great game.
History was created on Saturday when Ballarat hosted its first VFL/AFL game. Mars Stadium was the 46th venue to be used in league history and the match between the Western Bulldogs and Port Adelaide served as the first match to be played for premiership points in Victoria outside Melbourne or Geelong in 65 years. There were fears earlier in the week that the game might be affected by snow, however, the weather warmed to 7 degrees with a wind chill of 3 degrees for most of the game. Our umpiring team weren’t impacted by the weather at all although I did hear our President Troy Pannell was doing a snow dance at the foot of Mt Macedon when he got home.
Former VFL/AFL goal umpire and life member, Gary Best passed away last Wednesday following a brief illness. He was 68 years old.
THIS former AFL umpire and firefighter is an ambassador for the Adelaide Marathon Festival. He also has won the Empire State Building stair race and can climb most buildings in the time it takes you to read this story. He spoke to Gordon Knight
Ian “Buzz” Burrows came into the year on the back of his 7th grand final in 2016 needing two games to move to 250 in his outstanding career. He’s not sure whether he walked in front of a black cat, stood on a crack or walked under a ladder (we know he broke his toe when he fell over a dog) but 2017 has been a year he’d prefer to forget. In his return game, Buzz umpired with his good mates, Adam Coote, Michael Marantelli and Rob Haala in the Geelong v Richmond match. Well done Buzz.
Harry Beitzel passed away on August 13th in Gosford hospital following a brief illness, aged 90. While Harry was renowned for his 16 years of media work on numerous Melbourne radio stations and for his now innovative “Galahs” trip where he took the best Australian Rules players overseas to play what we now know to be the Ireland International Rules Series, Harry was a VFL umpire.
The NFL took an important step Wednesday in what has been a five-year process to convert its officials into full-time league employees. After months of negotiations prompted by the NFL competition committee, the NFL Referees Association (NFLRA) agreed to the structure of a modest transition during the course of the 2017 season.
Ian ‘Buzza’ Burrows started his boundary umpiring journey with the Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League back in the year 2000. Seventeen years later he will umpire in his 250th AFL match on Saturday afternoon at Simmonds Stadium. Alongside the significant milestone match this weekend sits 29 finals, 7 Grand Finals in (08, 10, 10 replay, 12, 14, 15 & 16) and 3 All-Australian jackets in (10, 12 & 15). It’s fair to say that since Ian’s first AFL match between Collingwood and Adelaide in 2006, he has elevated himself to be one of the most consistent and best boundary umpires in AFL history.
It is with pleasure that I bring to you Ronald Keith Bailey J.P., one of the hardest workers for our association that you would ever meet. Nothing is too much for Ron as he prepares and organizes the X-men umpire functions, held at Mornington for the blokes and Darebin for the couples, as well as looking after umpires who are on tough times.