WRFL: Henry McFerran umpires game 1800 in local footy

Henry McFerran has seen just about everything in his 1800 games of umpiring. From Doug Hawkins to it being “too cold” to train, this is his remarkable 49-year journey.

Harvey, Tuck, Burgoyne and Bartlett.

Legends of longevity in the AFL, names that need no introduction, names that have totalled a staggering 1668 games.

Totalled.

Which well and truly leaves them in the shade when it comes to Henry McFerran.

He is a total of one – and on Saturday completed his 1800th game of footy – albeit as an umpire.

This seemingly unstoppable septuagenarian – he turns 73 next month – has been behind a whistle since 1973 at games across Melbourne’s western suburbs.

McFerran started in 1973, when the competition was the Footscray District league, before watching it evolve to become today’s Western Region league.

Henry McFerran awards another free. Photo: WRFL.

He is a life member of the league and umpires’ association – alongside the obviously inevitable prestigious honour of Hall of Famer.

“When you’ve been umpiring for longer than you’ve been married, you know it’s been a long time,” he joked.

“It’s pretty special to think I’ve been doing it for this long.

“I just love doing it.”

A Division 1 under 18s game between Caroline Springs and Point Cook was the setting for McFerran’s special occasion because he even has to admit that in his 70s, his days of chasing senior footballers around the ground are “well gone”.

But McFerran likes to think he could still keep up with the top grades, especially with a three-umpire system.

“As long as I didn’t get stuck in the middle of the ground with countless stoppages, I’d like to think I would be alright,” he laughed.

“Doing the under 18s on a Saturday morning, then mentoring some young kids in the under 12s on a Sunday is perfect for me now.

“It takes a while to get going but after about 10 minutes I usually loosen up and I’m pretty good for the game.

“Earlier in the season, I umpired an under 18s game then helped out with the reserves grade because we were short.

“It nearly killed me!”

Henry McFerran with his fellow umpires before the game. Photo: WRFL.

McFerran remembers his 49-year journey starting after seeing an advertisement in the local newspaper in 1973 looking for umpires.

He had played footy for St Albans and Maidstone, a club which no longer exists, but realised he wasn’t “big enough” to keep going.

That’s when he ended up in a local umpiring official’s “Braybrook kitchen” to go through a job interview to get his hands on a whistle.

“A bloke I worked with talked me into playing and I thought I’d give it a go but it wasn’t for me in the end,” he said.

“I remember sitting there and being interrogated as if I was on trial. He was asking me things I honestly couldn’t believe.

“I just wanted to be an umpire.

“These days you can just rock down to training and you’ll get a game almost straight away because we are so short.

“It’s amazing just how much it has all changed.”

The changes McFerran has experienced across the journey range from rules to the number of umpires on the ground to three.

He says he “prefers old footy” because there were less rules.

“When there was one umpire you’d have to tear down the field to a contest 60m away, you’d always sleep well that night,” he recalled.

“I did that in A Grade and the pace was unbelievable. It was just different but in the days, there were those real interclub rivalries, they’re not as big as they used to be.

“When we moved to two umpires it certainly made life a lot easier – it did take a little bit to get used to.”

Henry McFerran pays a free kick during his milestone game. Photo: WRFL.

For all of his achievements along the way, McFerran has never umpired a senior A Grade or Division 1 grand final but he doesn’t regret it.

He sat on the bench for a couple as an emergency but has had the whistle in a big game “nearly 40 times”.

McFerran said he had always had a few laughs watching his fellow umpires “spit the dummy” when they didn’t get to take centre stage of the biggest day of the day.

“The top tier was a bloody good standard and I thought to myself it’s going to be hard work if I get out there especially when it was one umpire,” he said.

“In the past, we used to run a book on who would get the grand final. When it came to the night where the appointments were read out, about 110 people would all squeeze into a room.

“One bloke cracked it one year because he missed out and blokes were laughing at him. Someone had told him he was in and he didn’t get it.

“It was bloody competitive.”

Henry McFerran before his milestone game. Photo: WRFL.

McFerran now only trains one night a week as he prepares to raise the bat for his half-century in 2023.

On Thursday, he prefers to cook the barbecue for his mates.

It’s just another role he has filled at the umpires association serving on the committee for 38 years, as president for 22 and secretary for 14.

That’s on top of ensuring he gets all the calls right on a weekend.

“That’s a lot of laps at training,” he said.

“I’ve never been the greatest trainer, I never really liked it, I still don’t.

“I only walk laps these days because it’s too cold to get out of your warm clothes.

“But even then it’s pushing it in the middle of winter.”

Since first putting the whistle to his mouth at local level, McFerran says he has seen “a lot of good players”.

They include Doug Hawkins who even remembered him at a sportsman’s night almost 30 years after he first officiated the Footscray and Western Bulldogs legend.

“He was a good player, far better than other guys on the ground,” he said.

“Jimmy Blyth (a 1981 league best and fairest winner) – he should have played league footy. There was a lot of guys who could have gone higher but for whatever reason they didn’t.

Doug Hawkins.

Majak Daw. Photo: Getty Images.

“A more recent example was Majak Daw. I remember seeing him in an under 16s game and saying to the other umpires ‘who is that kid?’

“He was plucking it like Cherries. I couldn’t believe he wasn’t already playing for the Western Jets.

“But look what he’s gone onto achieve.”

While 1800 games might sound a lot to some, for McFerran it was just “another game of footy”.

He plans on going into a 50th season.

“I thought about 53 years so that way it would be 60 years of service when it combines my playing and coaching at Maidstone,” he said.

“I love mentoring the young kids and hopefully helping them go onto achieving bigger and better things.

“Hopefully I can get through next year but it’s getting harder every week, I’m not getting any younger.”

When the time eventually comes for McFerran to signal the end of the game – which will be his last – family will take priority.

Hie has grandkids playing for Caroline Springs and Gisborne and plans to watch them as often as possible.

His daughter is also a committed player.

In the past, his wife was a trainer at St Albans for over 30 years.

“Football has always been family orientated and I don’t think that will stop,” he said.

“It has been a good and long journey so far but there’s a lot to still look forward to.”