What better way to kick start Grand Final week than to hear from someone who has actually umpired 7 of the big matches. AFL Hall of Fame umpire Brett Allen entertained us for nearly 45 minutes with stories, anecdotes and his journey to reach the pinnacle of umpiring.
Brett hails from Geelong and played his junior football there, but decided his small stature needed a year off to grow. In that gap year he discovered he could earn $50 per match by umpiring and so started an illustrious career. Towards the end of his career he was earning $100,000 pa and today that has climbed to around $150,000 for the top umps. This is still well less than the best players and coaches but Brett thinks it is around the right level. Umpires normally have other employment as well, but this can be difficult to juggle around training and interstate travel requirements. It was these last 2 factors that lead Brett to retire in 2007 aged 41.
Brett’s early Grand Finals were one sided affairs so his worries about close scrutiny of decisions was unnecessary. In fact Brett preferred preliminary finals as these were extremely passionate games and with passionate crowds. The Grand Final crowd hosts many “theatre goers” in Brett’s words.
His best players? Gary Ablett snr – a stand out – followed by Carey and Voss.
Should umpires still issue Brownlow votes rather than a “panel of experts”? His surprise response was YES because of GAMBLING! The betting houses need uncertainty in the result to make money. Figure that out! He agrees umpires do not always get it right. Once Modra kicked 13 goals in a match and they awarded him 1 point – because they thought he’d only kicked 4!
Brett said the best rule change has been that umpires can now award a 50 metre penalty for abuse. Prior to this player abuse to umpires was rife, and umpires often dished it back too. Miking up the umpires meant this had to be quelled, and Brett is hopeful that the rising respect now given to umpires will continue – although he was not happy with the recent lenient Toby Greene penalty. Junior football looks to the top for guidance so this respect must be in place at top level to filter down.
It was great to see many members get into the mood of the evening by displaying their club allegiances. We all enjoyed Brett’s most entertaining presentation.
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