MPNFL: Umpire Jason Hughes returns home to notch his 500th game

Umpire Jason Hughes returned to the Mornington Peninsula last week for his 500th game.

Jason Hughes (right) returned to the MPNFL to umpire his 500th game alongside Brett Gent (left) and Travis Dennerley.

They say the best umpires are barely noticeable.

But there was an exception to the rule last week when Jason Hughes took charge of the Pines-Frankston Bombers game at Eric Bell Reserve.

Eagle-eyed fans thought they‘d gone back in time when they spotted Hughesy, who last umpired in the MPNFL in 2009.

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There he was dashing around in familiar fashion — so, where had he been?

For the past decade, Hughes has lived in Mortlake in Western Victoria, running the town’s racing club while still umpiring in the Hampden league.

As he approached game 500, an opportunity came up to return “home” for the milestone, and he took it.

“They (the Southern Umpires Association) moved heaven and earth to make it happen and made me feel so welcome, made a bit of a big deal of it,” Hughes said.

“It was really nice and I appreciated it.”

Hughes, 47, is a SUA life member and former president.

For his milestone game he umpired alongside great mates Brett Gent and Travis Dennerley.

“It was really good to catch up with those blokes. We had a ball,” he said.

“My last game (in the MPNFL) was the 2009 grand final in Nepean. Ten years later we can just turn up and just go like clockwork, it’s just like getting back on a bike. Team work, it was fantastic, I enjoyed it so much.”

Several Pines and Bombers officials recognised Hughes, including Pythons legend Gordo Hendry, the pair later catching up for a beer in the rooms.

“Some really nice people were coming up and welcoming me back. It was great,” he said.

“I umpired Gordo when he had a stroke at Mornington all those years ago. He was talking about that.”

Another magical milestone awaits Hughes, who, all up, including junior footy, has umpired 934 games...in sight of 1000.