Territorian Emma Stark becomes the youngest person to officiate an elite level football game

One of football’s brightest prospects, Emma Stark, became the youngest person to officiate an elite level game during the Essendon v Hawthorn AFLW match.

TEENAGE Territory double threat Emma Stark has described her AFLW umpiring debut at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night as “absolutely insane”, after the July call up which left her close to tears.

Stark, just 16, became the youngest umpire to officiate elite level football when she took charge of the round one Essendon v Hawthorn match, beating AFL ump Brett Rosebury’s record by 77 days.

It’s yet another string to Stark’s bow who made her Men’s Premier League umpiring debut last season at just 15, breaking the league record for a female central official.

Stark, who also played Women’s Premier League for the first time with St Mary’s in 2021-22, joined the AFLW’s umpiring squad along with two other Territorians: Cooper Ranie and Isabelle Rawsthorne.

She told the NT News she got the call up over a month ago from AFL umpiring list and talent manager Adam Davis, which left young Stark almost in tears.

Stark became the youngest person to umpire an elite level football game. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

“Five minutes in he goes: ‘I was just ringing up to ask if you were interested in umpiring AFLW this season?’

“I was like: ‘Are you serious?’ I was holding back my tears.”

She said her big league recruitment fitted in perfectly as she had begun to ramp up her running and training loads ahead of the NTFL season which begins in early October.

However, it is unclear how many game she will officiate this season but it’s expected to clash with her NTFL and NT Thunder commitments at some stage in 2022-23.

“I’m happy to just go with the flow, I don’t care how many I get, I’m just forever grateful for being part of it,” a wise-beyond-her-years Stark said, who began umpiring at the age of 13.

Stark said she was “surprisingly calm” leading up to the match, but the nerves started to “flush through” after packing her bag for the game.

Stark was happy with her overall performance at Marvel Stadium. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

She was equally shocked to enter the stadium and see a crowd of over 12,000, which had swelled significantly over the last 30 minutes before the opening whistle.

“You come out, and it’s double the amount you saw before,” she said.

“Going up the race, there were flashing lights, it was just: ‘Wow’.

“It was absolutely insane, I cannot begin to describe how amazing it was walking out.

“The first ball up, there was this roar of emotion (from the crowd).”

Happy with her decision making and overall fitness on Saturday night, Stark’s mobile phone was “absolutely flooded” after the game with support from family, friends and well wishers.