“That was one thing I learned straight off – you’re not a rover anymore; don’t go chasing the footy.”
This weekend Marklew will umpire his 1000th game, between Taylors Lake and Noradjuha-Quantong at Dock Lake Reserve, with Rudolph making a special appearance as a goal umpire.
Marklew, 62, said he had accrued a lifetime’s worth of great memories across his umpiring career, and was keen to make one more this weekend.
“Over my time I think I’ve umpired nine Wimmera Football Netball League senior grand finals,” he said.
“I’ve done Horsham District league grand finals, and the Northern Mallee league and the Mallee league.
“A highlight of my career was umpiring with my son Leigh. He and I umpired a senior grand final together. It was just great.
“I’ve umpired at places I’d never ever go to – there’s all these little grounds all over the place and half the towns I hadn’t even heard of.
“You make a lot of friends. There’s the odd enemy I suppose, but I always maintain if you treat players with respect they’ll treat you with respect.
“We make mistakes – we’re just human.”
Along the way Marklew developed a passion for developing junior umpires, and last year won the AFL Victoria Development Coach of the Year award.
“That’s what I’ve tried to strive towards during my career – to try to help the younger umpires to learn the game. That’s where you need the experience,” he said.
“It’s been a great career over the years. I’ve had a lot of mentors who have helped me.
“There’s been Shane Downie, Geoff Dumesny, Graeme Cox and of course Maurie.”
Ahead of Marklew’s milestone match, he and Rudolph, who is the only other 1000 game umpire in the Wimmera, reminisced on their many good times sharing the field together.
“Frank is a jovial type,” Rudolph said.
“One day there was a bloke in a car who kept giving him a hard time, so Frank pulled out his notepad and made out that he was writing down the car number plate.
“I don’t know whether the guy thought he was an off-duty policeman, but Frank apparently didn’t have any trouble with him after that – he left the ground.”
Marklew said he had seen ‘numerous funny things’ during his umpiring career.
“I’ve seen… people being hit in the face or the crown jewels with the footy. When that happens I think ‘you’re leading the hard-ball gets’,” he said.
“You’ve got to make it fun, because at the end of the day I think people forget it’s only a game.”
And nobody has reminded Marklew of that fact more than his family.
“I’d like to thank all the umpires I’ve umpired with over the years, and I’ve always maintained you have to have a great family behind you. I couldn’t do it without my wife Carolyn, my son Leigh and my daughter Aimee,” he said.
“We all have bad days, and like players you might go home a little bit down in the dumps, but you talk to your family and they get you up and about.”
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