Football umpire Steve McCarthy has seen it all in a long and fulfilling career in the VAFA

Originally published by the Mordiallic Chelsea Leader on June 18 and written by Simon McEvoy

STEVE McCarthy will umpire his 700th VAFA game on Saturday.

In more than 40 years as an umpire, the 59-year-old has enough stories to fill a book.

He’s seen it all, and had a ball.

McCarthy will reach the milestone when he officiates in the Division 1 contest between Ormond and Preston Bullants at Gunn Reserve.

Quirky moments? Yep, there have been many.

Like the time, in a final, several players raced up to him and pleaded for him to stop the game and conduct a team count, believing the opposition side had too many on the ground.

But Macca told them their captain needed to make the request. By the time the skipper did, the extra player was bolting towards the boundary line, with several rivals hot in pursuit.

“About three blokes chased him and grabbed him to keep him on the ground…one bloke ended up sitting on him to keep him within the boundary line.

It was comical to watch but in the end he crawled to the boundary and got across the line.”

McCarthy recalls another game, when a fierce hailstorm struck, but play went on.

“It was hailing, horrendous,” he said.

“I made the player stand on the mark…he said, ‘Macca, I’ve had enough, can we just go home now?’ He basically wanted me to call the game off and we all felt like it too because we were being pelted by hail.”

Steve McCarthy: “You’ve got to be able to have a bit of a laugh.’’

McCarthy started umpiring at 18 and all these years on still is passionate about the caper.

He estimates he’s umpired a few hundred games elsewhere but the VAFA has been his home.

“I’m pretty proud about it,” McCarthy said of the 700 mark.

“Others have got to 800 or 900, but they are guys who were field umpires then goal umpires.

“I might be the first to reach 700 as a fieldy.”

McCarthy says the key to being a good umpy is communication and also “not taking it all too seriously”.

“You’ve still got to be able to have a bit of a laugh and a joke with the players,” he said.

Macca is not ashamed to admit he’s made his share of mistakes

“If you make a mistake and you are willing to say, ‘I’m sorry, I stuffed up there and I was wrong’ they appreciate that and respect you for it.

“I did it last week…and the player said, ‘wow, I’ve never heard an umpire say that before’

“You’ve just got to continue talking…yes, it’s pretty serious for the 36 blokes playing but you’ve got to find a balance.

“If you don’t have a personality you won’t survive and people are going to give you a hard time…because at the end of the day you are always half right and half wrong, and you’ve just got to deal with that.

“All these years, the people you meet are amazing. You meet people from all walks of life. There are friends I’ve made in the VAFA who I don’t know what they do during the week – it doesn’t matter – you all get together on a Saturday and you are all equal and have the same interests.

“Sometimes I think I can’t believe I’m still going…”

McCarthy will umpire alongside his great mate Mark Gibson on Saturday.