Pepperell notches 400 games

KANE Pepperell celebrated a major milestone on Saturday, with the field umpire officiating in his 400th match for the South Gippsland Umpires Association (SGUA).

He shared the occasion with girlfriend Gemma Cook who was one of the boundary umpires and his goal umpiring father Brian, with the trio part of the contingent of officials overseeing the senior match between Dalyston and Tooradin-Dalmore.

“It was exciting to get to the 400 and put a lot back into the area for footy but it was a one-sided game in the end,” Kane said.

He added it was enjoyable to run onto the field with a couple of good mates.

SGUA supplies officials for both West Gippsland and Gippsland League matches, having provided umpires to the Alberton League when it was operational.

Kane said a lot has changed in his 15 years of umpiring, both in regard to skills and rules.

He said the toughest rule to adjudicate is determining which tackles are acceptable and which are dangerous, with holding the ball also challenging at times.

He prefers the umpiring approach at local level to that adopted in AFL matches, particularly in relation to deliberately out of bounds calls.

“It’s just the blatant ones,” he said of the less severe approach to that rule at local level.

While Kane wishes more junior players were coming through the ranks, he enjoys seeing AFL players come back to local footy.

He said while SGUA numbers have been reasonably good recently, the Association is always looking for more officials.

Kane said umpiring is a great way to keep fit and meet plenty of mates.

He trains on Wednesday nights at Leongatha Velodrome, saying the umpiring coach changes things up from week to week.

Kane offered some advice for those contemplating taking up umpiring but concerned about negative comments from players and spectators.

“You’ve got to brush off the rubbish,” he said, adding there is plenty of support from the umpiring group.