1000 games of football

IF YOU’VE been around long enough, you will know, or at least would have seen Bruce Pratt on or around a footy field in Gippsland.

Over the past 55 years Bruce has racked up some pretty impressive statistics in the game, recently marking his 1000th game on the field playing or umpiring.

Between 1969 and 2013 Bruce played 415 games of footy. 97 for Juniors, 106 for Reserves and 212 in Seniors.

He did pretty well too. Winning the Under 16’s Premiership in 1973 ’74 and ’75, the Reserves Premiership in ‘76, Reserves Best and Fairest in ’94 and Seniors Best and Fairest in ’78, together with the Seniors League Goal Kicking in ’79 and ’80 and a Seniors Premiership ‘84 and ‘88. 

In 1976 he played a match with his father Adie and they became the first known father and son duo to play together in the same team. 

At the ripe old age of 39 Bruce decided to retire from playing footy, except for donning the boots again for one last special game in 2013. 

The game was for his son Michael who needed a kidney transplant, with Bruce donating his own kidney. This would force both players into retirement, and they decided to play a final game together - with both pulling through the match and the surgery pretty well. 

Bruce began umpiring before the turn of the Century and this year received an award for 25 years’ service for umpiring both on field and goals.

He’s umpired 585 games all across Gippsland. He umpired seniors grand finals in 2011 and 2016, five reserves finals and seven junior grand finals.

And he’s still going.

Football runs in Bruces blood. His dad and eight uncles all played footy in the 1950’s, and with his descendants playing for as long as back as the records go Bruce reckons,

“It was only inevitable that I was going to be playing at such a stage when I was old enough.”

Bruce loves the game and it gives him an opportunity to switch off from work and turn his thoughts to something else. 

“It’s my outlet from the farm, but also keeping fit and just enjoying being out there umpiring and giving back to the community.”

While having good communication, composure and balance when umpiring is key according to Bruce, he also admits that, 

“Composure is very hard at times, especially in a heated battle where there’s rivalries between two teams, that have had a very long association with bad blood.”

He also comments that it’s important to enjoy umpiring and it opens up opportunities for others who don’t want to or can’t be on the ground playing. 

“Being an umpire is another way of being up there and enjoying a sport (whatever sport that is) without the physical interaction with body contact, but they can still be up there running around, just like the people that are on the other side of the whistle playing”. 

Over all the years of playing and umpiring, Bruces biggest regret was being overseas in America working in 1983 when all three of Ellinbank’s footy teams won their grand finals. 

“My mother rang up and I was at the top of the silo in America and I thought oh something’s happened to Dad and she said, ‘We just won all the football’, and I though gee, here I am over the other side of the world and I’ve missed out on that - the one and only time Ellinbank ever done a triple.”

But the good times have outweighed the bad and Bruce is grateful for the teams he’s played with as well as the personal achievements with a memorable stint umpiring in seniors grand finals.  

“While umpiring I never got a senior grand final until I was in my 50s. I guess that’s a significant achievement, at that age when there’s other people out there that are 22,23, in their prime getting grand finals, so that was that was nice.” 

Bruce is still passionate about the game, passionate about contributing to the community and umpiring while he still can. 

“I take every day, every match as a grand final because you never know, it could be your last game, because you never know what’s going to happen tomorrow.” Congratulations Bruce.