SFNL great John Burg discusses his hall of fame induction for his contribution as a player and umpire
John Borg admitted he was never short of a word or two across his 900 games played and umpired, but when it came to accepting his Southern league hall of fame elevation, he was frozen.
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John Borg has always considered himself “a bit of a yapper”.
As a player, “in a friendly way”, he would deliver feedback to the umpires.
As an umpire, he was quick to fire a response in the players’ direction.
But such was the honour of being elevated in the Southern Football Netball League hall of fame last Wednesday, Borg was all yapped out.
“I got up there, had it all prepared, they asked me a few questions and I got a bit of stage fright,” Borg joked.
“I was going OK and then all of a sudden, I don’t know, everyone was looking right at me and I just froze.
“It was really funny, someone came up to me after and said ‘it’s not like you to be short of words’.
“I was just really honoured and humbled.”
Borg’s impact in the Southern league started after he was transferred “from the bush” for work.
He laced up as a player at Oakleigh Sacred Heart, Clayton, Black Rock and Heatherton.
Borg played a nudge under 400 games and was selected in Heatherton’s Team of the Century.
He described himself as an “in and under” player who wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty.
“I would go in and get the ball … early days you’d get a few knocks but I toughened up and gave a few back,” he said.
Borg started doing some club umpiring after he retired but a call quickly came to join the umpires association.
He fell in love with it and never looked back, going on to umpire over 400 games.
“Once you finish football you just want to put something back into the community, so I started umpiring,” he said.
“I think being playing football I was a bit of a yapper, I gave it back to the umpires in a friendly way and I did that as an umpire.
“I was still able to make the tough calls, I think that’s how you got the respect of the players too.”
Borg umpired six grand finals after earning his stripes in the reserves.
In a time where bouncing the ball was imperative, Borg took on the challenge in his first decider.
“The first one was nerve wracking,” he said of his six grand finals.
“The coach came in at the time and said ‘who’s gonna start?’ so I stuck my hand up and said ‘I wanna start’.
“After that first one I just went into it like I would any other game.
“When I first started off you couldn’t progress higher until you could bounce and I finally got the hang of it as soon as they started throwing the ball up.
“We had to earn our stripes, you couldn’t just go and umpire a Division 1 game, you started in the reserves and then later on you went to a lower senior grade and so on.”
With 900 games of experience in the Southern league, as a player and umpire, Borg has played or adjudicated some of the competition’s best.
As much as league legend John Bennett sticks out as the best player Borg’s seen, he said he was always quick to note down who he would get a kick on.
“I have seen some good ones and I have seen an ordinary ones, sometimes you’d umpire a game and wish you could go back and have a kick against them,” he quipped.
SOUTHERN LEAGUE HALL OF FAME
2015
Ashley Goodes, Bob Bray, Bruce Hill, Con Gorozidis, Darrell Molloy, David Martin, Dennis Malcolm, Garry Cranny, Ian Birkett, Jim Honey, Jim Meneilly, John Bennett, John Bennett, Kevan Hamilton, Neil Lockhart, Peter Martin, Robert Spaulding, Stan Le Lievre, Steve Barnes, Ted Woods, Wally Beckwith, William Ostle
2016
David Luttrell, Garry Matlock, Ken Shaw, Kingsley Ellis, Margaret Torpy, Mark Seymour
2017
Daryl Pitman, Emrys Lloyd-Griffiths, Neil Kellett
2018
Alan Flint, Ray Carr, Ross Gould, Trevor Easey
2021
Colin Anderson OAM, Tony Cooper, Brian Marriott, Shane Morwood, Crofton Mudge
2024
Ed McLean, John Borg
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