Brett Allen never imagined umpiring football would lead him to seven grand finals, Hall of Fame

GARY Ablett’s 1994 preliminary final goal, Carlton’s 1999 preliminary final upset and Leo Barry’s 2005 Grand Final mark, Brett Allen has seen some of the game’s greatest moments.

Umpire Brett Allen talks to Adam Simpson.

ASK Brett Allen what the best thing was about being an AFL umpire was and he doesn’t have to think about his answer for long.

“You have the best seat in the house,” he said.

Over a career spanning 16 season and encompassing 347 AFL games, Allen was front and centre for some of football’s most famous moments.

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He set the mark for Gary Ablett before he goaled after the siren to win the game in Geelong’s 1994 preliminary final against North Melbourne.

He was in the thick of it as Carlton pulled off a come-from-behind one-point win over Essendon in the 1999 preliminary final.

And he was on the field when Leo Barry floated in front of the pack to take his stunning dying-seconds grab which ensured Sydney held on to a four-point win in the 2005 Grand Final.

Gary Ablett marks and goals to win the 1994 preliminary final.

Leo Barry’s 2005 Grand Final mark against West Coast.

“There’s nothing better than being involved at the highest level,” Allen said.

A self-described “small half-forward goal sneak”, Allen played junior football until the age of 16 with South Barwon before realising he was never going to make it to the top as a player.

A friend was umpiring locally in Geelong and encouraged him to give that a go.

The path it led Allen on he could never have dreamt of at the time.

“You just go along and think, ‘I’m enjoying this’ and you get more experience and develop your skills along the way and everything just unfolded from there,” Allen said.

“Even when I did my first year in AFL footy I never imagined that I’d be doing seven grand finals and all the games but you go along for the ride.”

Allen believes his umpiring style was what saw him prosper.

It was one of letting the play go and only calling the obvious and the necessary free kicks, which was what the AFL was looking for in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Brett Allen umpires a match between North Melbourne and Port Adelaide.

“Having played footy for a little while, I think I had a bit of empathy for the players so I understood when the players were intentionally transgressing the rules and maybe understood when coincidental things happened that you could let go and not intervene,” Allen said.

Since hanging up the whistle in 2007, Allen has settled back into a quiet life away from football as a project manager with the City of Greater Geelong.

He has four daughters who he once would have discouraged from umpiring but now says he would be happy to see follow in his footsteps.

“When I was doing it I thought, ‘I wouldn’t want my girls doing it’ because of the flack and the language and abuse and all that,” Allen said.

“But I think that’s all changed a lot now and it’s not a bad environment.”

Allen becomes the 14th umpire inducted into the Hall of Fame and first since Bryan Sheehan in 2013.