Umpire Corey Bowen’s rise from chasing pocket money to joining the SANFL’s illustrious 400-game club

He started umpiring as a kid for pocket money – now, three decades later, Corey Bowen is poised to join one of the league’s most exclusive clubs, writes Andrew Capel.

It started as a 13-year-old trying to make some pocket money.

Twenty-nine years later, Corey Bowen has carved out one of the great SANFL umpiring careers.

Next Sunday at the Bay, the grey-haired, 42-year-old will field umpire his 400th SANFL league game, becoming only the fourth person to achieve the feat.

He will join illustrious company, with the other three – Laurie Argent, Richard Williams and Tim Pfeiffer – having been inducted into the South Australian Football Hall of Fame.

Argent umpired 401 SANFL and two AFL games from 1975-93, Williams officiated 459 SANFL and 56 AFL matches from 1987-2011 while Pfeiffer was in charge of 416 SANFL and 44 AFL games from 1991-2009.

Like the trio, Bowen has stood the test of time after having his first taste of umpiring as a new high school student trying to put some money in his pocket.

“At the start, it was all about pocket money for me,’’ he said, adding his $15 would be handed to him in coins, including plenty of 20-cent pieces.

“I had played school footy in the North Adelaide Primary School Football Association and when I started at high school I decided to run the boundary to earn a bit of pocket money on a Saturday morning.

Corey Bowen (second from left), who will umpire his 400th SANFL game on Sunday, alongside the SANFL’s other 400-game field umpires, from left, Tim Pfeiffer, Laurie Argent and Richard Williams. Picture: Brett Hartwig

“Two years later, due to a bit of pot luck, there was a game at Tea Tree Gully on a Sunday and they were looking for a field umpire for an under-10s game.

“I put my hand up, but the umpires’ coaches were a little bit hesitant because I hadn’t done any field umpiring before and was a quiet, shy young boy.

“But they couldn’t get anyone else, so they let me do it and said they would jump in and help if it was needed.

“The rest, I guess, is history. I got told I did a good job and was quickly taken out of boundary umpiring and made a permanent field umpire.’’

And so started an incredible journey that saw Bowen join the SANFL umpiring ranks in 2002 and take charge of his first league game, between Glenelg and North Adelaide at the Bay, in Round 22, 2004.

Among his 399 games are eight grand finals, while he had a small taste of the AFL, overseeing 13 matches in 2010-11.

Bowen estimates he has run more than 25,000 kilometres during his umpiring journey, which is a testament to his fitness.

But that might have been the easy part.

Umpiring is a thankless task and unforgiving business, with plenty of advice, and often abuse, coming from the sidelines.

No matter how well umpires do their job, most supporters take their frustration out on them.

So does it take a certain kind of person to be an umpire?

Corey Bowen at training this week. Picture: Brett Hartwig

“I’d say you need to be thick-skinned, strong-willed, confident in what you’re doing and show on-field leadership because you are controlling a game,’’ Bowen said,

“I worked out pretty early on that you can only please about 50 per cent of the supporters with any decision, so you have to back yourself in.

“We’ve been coached on how we implement the rules, so you just have to try to block out the noise.

“Some of the comments you hear are quite funny – after I paid a free kick for a high tackle someone asked if I liked ducks because the player seemed to be a protected species – but the longer you’ve been around the easier it is to brush them aside.

“Occasionally the comments can get a little bit personal but you just have to remind yourself that you’re out there to do a job, you get a split second to make a decision, and if you’ve made a mistake it will be picked up by your coaches on review and you try to learn from it.’’

Some players have also been good on the lip over the years, with Bowen naming Central District’s Gowans twins, Chris and James, Port Adelaide’s Jeremy Clayton and Sturt’s greatest goalkicker, Brant Chambers, as the biggest offenders.

Bowen, who is married to Monika and has three boys aged 12 to 16, rates the 2017 and 2018 grand finals as the most memorable games he has umpired.

“In 2017, the game went down to the wire, with Sturt beating Port Adelaide by a point,’’ he recalled.

Corey Bowen (second from left) hams it up at training with SANFL 400-game field umpires and South Australian Football Hall of Fame members, from left, Tim Pfeiffer, Laurie Argent and Richard Williams. Picture: Brett Hartwig

“The pressure was incredibly high all day and the game was so tight that any wrong call, particularly in the last quarter, might have impacted the result.

“The year after, North and Norwood were involved in a shootout in a free-flowing game in front of a massive crowd, so that was enjoyable to be part of.’’

Bowen rates Magarey Medallists James Allan (North and Norwood), Zane Kirkwood (Port and Sturt) and Joel Cross (South Adelaide) as the best three players he has umpired while the greatest individual performance he has witnessed was Daniel Havelberg’s 14-goal effort for Central against the Redlegs at Elizabeth Oval in 2007.

Bowen, who is a store manager at Auto Masters and won the Golden Whistle as the SANFL’s field umpire of the year in 2018 and 2020, said he had stayed in the game for so long “because I just love footy and being involved in it, along with the belonging and purpose that the umpiring group brings’’.

He described joining the SANFL umpiring 400-club as “pretty special’’.

“It’s humbling and something I’ll look back on with great pride, knowing I’ve had a pretty good career and been able to do something I love for such a long time,’’ Bowen said.

In some nice symmetry, Bowen’s 400th game will take him full circle as he returns to where it all started, with the Tigers hosting the Roosters at Glenelg.

“The stars have aligned,’’ he said.

NUMBERS GAME

12: Crows unanswered goals against Sydney in the first and second quarters.

18: Jye Caldwell third quarter disposals for Essendon against Brisbane – the most ever recorded by a Bomber in a quarter.

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

“I’m trying to think through who our standouts were and, from a coaching point of view, that’s the most pleasing part of the performance – everyone contributed.’’ – Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks on the 90-point demolition of Sydney.

“It was unacceptable and embarrassing.’’ – Swans coach Dean Cox on the loss to the Crows.

Originally published as Umpire Corey Bowen’s rise from chasing pocket money to joining the SANFL’s illustrious 400-game club