Yarrawonga’s Bill Yendle, who recently turned 97-years-of-age, recalled a match in Mildura when he paid a free kick against a centre-half-back and the player, Ray Burr, asked what it was for.
With an expletive before the word ‘back’, Umpire Yendle told the talented Aboriginal player ‘you pushed him in the back’. “As we were running along I said to Ray ‘I’ll have a big frothy with you at the Worker’s Club after the game and it’s your shout’.
“A goal got kicked and I was about to bounce the ball when this big ruckman from Mildura told me ‘you’re in trouble: number one, Ray doesn’t drink, number two, he doesn’t smoke and number three he doesn’t swear’. Ray goes past and says to me ‘you’ll keep’.
“At the Worker’s Club I’m sitting there with footballers having a beer and Ray comes along in his Salvation Army gear and says ‘right buy the full Salvation Army War Crimes’. ‘Right I said, I’ll buy them’.”
Clive Macaulay of Mulwala who recently hit 93, wondered who was where in one footy match. “These two blokes were having a punch on right in front of me. I reported them and they denied the stoush. The tribunal chairman asked me for my comment and I said I must have been at a different game!” Clive said.
Bill and Clive joined fellow locals, as well as former umpires living elsewhere for an umpires reunion lunch.
Umpires often have a luncheon at Caulfield Race Club in Melbourne but last year decided to come to Yarrawonga Mulwala.
“Some of our umpire mates can’t get down to Melbourne and we never want them to feel neglected,” Victorian holder of games record, Terry O’Donnell, said.
As field umpire, O’Donnell, umpired 417 Victorian Country Football League (VCFL) games and is still umpiring junior grades, the Under 12s in the Western Region.
“I’ve actually umpired 2500 games overall,” O’Donnell, 79, said.
“I love umpiring, the people you meet, the friends you make, including in this area.
“I love being involved in football and umpiring is the best seat in the house, because you’re amongst the action all the time.”
An estimated combined total of about 2420 senior games was umpired by the eight Aussie Rules football umpires who dined at ClubMulwala.
Yarrawonga’s Bill Yendle and Ian Pritchard, 82, umpired at least 450 and 240 senior VCFL games respectively, Mulwala’s Clive Macaulay some 280 games, Wodonga’s Mike Quinlivan, 78, 296 games, and three other Melbournites, Peter Murray, 87, 240 games, 77-year-old Ian Brown over 300 games and John Moss, 76, 200 games.
Many yarns of yesteryear, in the days of these field umpires being solely in charge of games, were recalled over the three-hour, delicious luncheon at ClubMulwala.
As Ian Pritchard said, it was the way in which umpires handled awkward situations which enabled games to flow.
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