Leslie Edward Johnson, otherwise known as Edward or Ted depending which table you are looking at in the 2014 AFLUA year book announced his retirement from active duty last night in front of the AFL umpiring family and received a standing ovation.
The AFL umpiring department has selected six first time finals umpires to take to the field over this weekend.
Veteran goal umpire, Jason Venkataya waved his flags for the 211th time in an AFL game on Friday night and bowed out of football. In a great show of support for Jason all of the officiating umpires waited in the centre of the MCG for Jason to finish his duty of checking the score with fellow goal umpire, Chris Appleton and then left the arena together with Jason leading the group off the field.
AFLUA Life member Allan Cook represented Australia in the masters 800 metre race at the IAAF world athletics championships being held in Beijing.
Boundary umpire John Morris has stood the test of time. A Benjamin Button type – the older he gets the younger he looks and more importantly on the football field, the better he performs.
Chris Appleton only looks forward and focuses on what he can control. His hiatus in 2010 has been put to bed a long time ago. “I use my experiences during that time as a spur. I am not bitter at all, I have always considered myself lucky to get another opportunity,” reflected Chris today.
In this stats driven environment of AFL football we can be forgiven for looking at James’ career of 12 years (2003-2014), 136 games and assume his presence was a solid one and move onto the next stat.
Written by: Keziah Glenane – Kez participated in the Round 19 Fiona McBurney Match Day Experience.
I caught up with David Harris this afternoon as he was wrapping up his day for the Geelong umpires where he works as their administrator and while he was waiting for another bush umpire, Shaun Ryan to pick him up for their trip to Melbourne to train.