‘Razor’ Ray Chamberlain dropped for remainder of AFL Finals

He’s the often controversial whistleblower who gets under the skin of players and fans, now they won’t have to worry about him anymore.

Sorry Razor, out you go.

Footy fans and even players can rejoice after it was reported AFL umpire “Razor” Ray Chamberlain had been dropped.

The call means Chamberlain won’t be blowing the whistle for the remaining three games of the 2020 AFL season.

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Chamberlain has more often than not ruffled the feathers of footy fans with his whistleblowing habits and talking to players during games like they’re his kids or students.

The field umpire has shown throughout his career he doesn’t mind the spotlight, but his presence in games can at times overshadow the real stars of the game.

During the qualifying final between Port Adelaide and Geelong, Chamberlain became a trending topic on social media with fans unhappy with broadcaster Channel 7 for continually splicing his voice into the games.

A lot of footy’s problems could be solved by turning off Ray Chamberlain’s mic. #AFLPowerCats

— Titus O'Reily (@TitusOReily) October 1, 2020

Another problem amplified under the finals microscope has been the inconsistency with Chamberlain’s centre bounce efforts.

The AFL veteran was urged to give away the duties after producing multiple poor bounces throughout the opening two weeks of the finals.

Geelong coach Chris Scott didn’t hold back during week one of the finals when he let him know his thoughts at halftime.

“Ray!” Scott shouted at Chamberlain after storming onto the ground at halftime. “You shouldn’t be doing centre bounces! Pick it up!”

The issues bobbed up again during Geelong’s semi-final against Collingwood with Fox Footy’s David King questioning why he continued to persist.

“I’m not sure why we’re persisting with it. It’s not your strength Ray, you’re a great umpire but he just doesn’t get the height in his bounces,” King said.

“It doesn’t sound like a big issue, but when you’ve got a trio in there at ground level looking to put a move on and get their timing right to arrive as the tap is about to happen, (sometimes) no one even gets a tap at it and it basically becomes play on.”

Razor will be watching on from home.

Those thoughts and worries from fans about Chamberlain impacting either a preliminary final or the Grand Final can be cast aside with Channel 7’s Mark Stevens reporting the AFL veteran had been dropped.

“Believe umpire Razor Ray Chamberlain has been dropped and is done for the season,” Stevens wrote.

Chamberlain has umpired 331 games since entering the AFL back in 2004 and last year he was behind the whistle for the Grand Final between Richmond and GWS, making it the first time he’d officiated the big game since 2010.