‘Proudest moment’: Father-son duo to make grand final history

Umpires Daniel Wilson and Bailey Wilson will become the first father-son duo to officiate a senior GFNL grand final in recent history, with Daniel a field umpire and Bailey running the boundary.

Daniel Wilson, who returned to umpiring in 2023 to run around with his son, said it was likely his “proudest moment” of his umpiring career.

“We’ve done about half a dozen games together this year, we’ve done a few in senior footy which is exciting,” he said.

“But to actually do the senior grand final is another level, so it’s probably my proudest moment of my umpiring career, which has gone over many years.

“I mainly wanted to get back into it for my kids, I was watching Bailey every week and I think he said ‘why don’t you come back and umpire dad’.”

It was not all smooth sailing since the umpires were announced three weeks ago, with Daniel pinging a calf and undergoing a fitness test on Wednesday to prove his fitness for the grand final.

Bailey said he got into umpiring through his dad, who had started as a boundary umpire as well.

“He got me into it, I’m a boundary umpire now but he said I should get into umpiring through the boundary when I was starting out

“I think he’s pretty keen on me doing field umpiring at one point but umpiring has been pretty good for me so I’ve stuck at that.

“He’s definitely helped me a lot and mentored me, especially in those early days with what to do, how to act.”

Grand final debut beckons for up-and-coming star

By: Matthew Forrest

First-time senior grand final umpire Hamish Irvin says it is an “unbelievable honour” to get the nod to officiate the GFNL clash between South Barwon and Leopold.

Irvin earned the selection for grand final duties for the first time in his career, having made the transition from player to umpire after deciding he was “not a very good footballer”.

“I wasn’t great, I struggled to get a kick but I love the game,” he said.

“It got to a point where I had to focus on one, and I was a better umpire than player.

“It’s an unbelievable honour to get told I’d be umpiring the grand final, luckily we’ve known for about three weeks so we’ve had a bit of time to let the nerves settle.”

Irvin will be alongside some experienced officials on the day, with the group set to use communicators and earpieces to alert each other to free kicks and issues during the contest.

He said it made the job easier in a high-pressure environment like a grand final.

“They’re great, it can get really noisy in big finals and if it’s anything like last week it’s going to be really windy,” he said.

“They make it so much easier to talk to each other and give each other the heads up on stuff that’s happening during the game.”

Originally published as ‘Proudest moment’: Father-son duo to make grand final history