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Imagine telling Robert Flower, Robert DiPierdomenico or Mark ‘‘Jacko’’ Jackson to ease up on the football field.

612km or 9 hours is the amount of travel and time it takes boundary umpire Chris Roberts to commute every week to ensure he is fulfilling his role. This weekend after 122,400 km of total travel, Chris, or (Robbo), or (nicknames we can’t disclose here), will umpire in his 200th AFL match on Saturday afternoon at the MCG. An amazing achievement and dedication to elite boundary umpiring. 

Boundary umpire Rob Haala, becomes the 12th boundary umpire in the history of VFL/AFL football to reach the imposing milestone of 300 games.  Rob umpired the Collingwood v Essendon game at the MCG, an iconic venue and in a clash of traditional rivals.  Rob becomes the fastest boundary umpire to achieve this feat in 13 years and 82 days.

Former VFL boundary umpire, Graham Carbery, died on Wednesday after a long illness.  Carbery umpired 145 VFL games, including five finals.  He loved umpiring.  His career was different to every boundary umpire in VFL/AFL history.

Umpiring has been a family affair in community football leagues across the country for generations. We know whom those families are when we think about our first foray into umpiring as youngsters.  

I’ve been doing work experience here at the AFL Umpire’s Association for the week between July 3 – July 7. I was asked to attend a training session on Tuesday July 4, and to write an article describing important aspects of the session, including the facilities being used, the drills conducted and how these differed to my expectations prior to this week. 

From the six boundary umpires to debut in 2004, there stands just one in 2017. A man who will be only the 12th boundary umpire in history to walk out for 300 AFL matches this weekend. A man who also typifies the utmost professionalism, with a CV to match it: 24 finals, 3 Grand Finals, an International Rules Series and 5 ANZAC day matches. Rob Haala is this man, and this weekend on Saturday afternoon at the MCG in a match between Essendon and Collingwood, Rob joins the 300 club.

Former AFL footballer David Rodan will debut in his first AFL game this weekend as a goal umpire.  David will partner Stephen Williams in the Nth Melbourne v Fremantle match this Sunday.

Boundary umpire, Adam Coote was back for his third game in 2017 on the weekend.  Adam’s season has been scuttled by injury following a pre season operation.  Adam now has 270 games to his name including 25 finals and 5 grand finals.  Let’s hope he can finish off the year on a good note.  Out of that game Chris Esler left the field at halftime with an achillies injury.  The boundary umpires then had to revert to a three umpire system.