Lachlan Clancy – VAFA Field Umpire
VAFA Field Umpires were treated to a very special guest in the umpiring fraternity with current AFL Field Umpire Ray ‘Razor’ Chamberlain presenting to the group during Wednesday’s on-line coaching session.
Ray was kind enough with his time to speak about his time umpiring, his upbringing and some of the challenges he has faced in his career, and how he faces some of the same challenges now as he did when he stared umpiring at community football, with obviously the heightened level of scrutiny he and his colleagues receive daily.
Ray’s stories about his relationship with AFL clubs and players alike gave a great insight into the daily life of an AFL umpire as well as the gameday environment he faces each week. Ray spoke about all his hardships when umpiring, which he says is experienced by umpires at all levels of football no matter their ability or attention they face.
He spoke about the disappointments regarding appointments along the way and his ability to keep striving for excellence, and that even now he must continue to adapt and be progressive even at this stage in his career. He mentioned how his career hasn’t always been smooth sailing for him, which a lot of our VAFA umpires can attest to along the journey, but his enjoyment of umpiring and his self-drive pushed him through and ultimately, he has been able to reap the rewards along the way that umpiring at the highest level for 350 games and 3 AFL Grand Finals proves the sacrifice and hard times can be worth it when you reflect on what you can achieve.
Ray also has started with the help of his family the Chamberlin Foundation, which is a suicide prevention and mental health charity which helps suffering Australians. He spoke about how much this means to him and his family because of his own experiences over periods in his life and the satisfaction he gets from seeing others benefit something in life when not everything has gone there way.
It was great of Ray to give his time and share his story about his umpiring career, his relationships and how much he enjoys umpiring which all the VAFA umpiring group thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated his insights.
Photo: AFL.com.au
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