Steve Rogers named Umpire of the Year at the 2023 Hockey Queensland Awards

A stellar year full of career highlights has been capped with a prestigious award for one Ipswich hockey official.

Ipswich's top hockey umpire Steve Rogers.

A stellar year full of career highlights has been capped with a prestigious award for one Ipswich hockey official.

Steve Rogers, from Ipswich, has been named Umpire of the Year at the 2023 Hockey Queensland Annual Awards.

2023 has been a standout year for Rogers, which saw him named as the only Australian umpire at the 2023 FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup and has been called up to umpire at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Steve Rogers (left) with fellow umpire Jakub Mejlik of Czechia before the 2023 FIH Men's World Cup final, Bhubaneswar, India.

Rogers, who has been umpiring hockey since he was 12, said the award came as a bit of a shock.

“I’ve never won a Hockey Queensland award before,” Rogers said.

“I’m very honoured to win this award. It has been an amazing year for me.

“I went to the World Cup as a bit of an unknown, and I had only met four of the other umpires before going.

A file photo form when Steve Rogers (left) was awarded this shirt from Ipswich North's hockey club after he played 500 games and Steven Profke (right) who was awarded a shirt for his 700 games.

“I really looked up to those other guys.

“I was a reserve for the first couple of games in Rourkela, India, but I got the opportunity to umpire when one of the umpires got sick.

It was crazy to umpire the India v Spain match in front of over 20,000 screaming Indian fans”.

Ipswich international hockey umpire Steve Rogers controlling play during a Pro League match.

Rogers said he couldn’t believe his luck when he got given the whistle for the second semi-final, and then gold medal match.

“I was happy enough with just being able to umpire a quarter-final. I couldn’t believe it when I got the message,” Rogers said.

“I never thought I would get to umpire the final.

“My wife, Bianca couldn’t believe it either, but she was super happy for me”.

Rogers began his umpiring journey in Ipswich at 12 when his older brother asked if he would umpire with him.

Ipswich international hockey umpire Steve Rogers with Brisbane umpire Adam Kearns during Pro League matches.

“They were short of an umpire that day, I had no clue what I was doing. I was thrown in the deep end,” Rogers said.

Rogers thanked his mentors Basil Coker and John Corney who helped him with his journey through Ipswich Hockey on his way to being an elite umpire, and is now mentoring future Ipswich umpires in the same way.

“I want to show young umpires my road to success and with dedication, they can achieve what they set their minds to,” Rogers said.

“Jonathan Herron is coming up through the ranks and is already on the national panels.

“My son Hudson would kick me if I didn’t mention him too”.

Hudson Rogers, 14, won the Ipswich Junior Umpire award this year, showing the next generation of hockey umpires is strong in Ipswich.

Steve Rogers is a finalist in the Ipswich Sports Award Official of the Year for 2023.

Originally published as Steve Rogers named Umpire of the Year at the 2023 Hockey Queensland Awards