James umpires his 300th

THERE was no great fanfare for umpire James Browne when he ran onto the Phillip Island ground on Sunday to umpire his milestone 300th match and that is just the way he likes it.
Son of Graham and Kate Browne of Tarwin Browne, 25, said it was just another game for him.
Browne said he is looking forward to next week and joining fellow South Gippsland Umpires Association umpire Scott Wilson who will umpire his 300th match at Bass when Kilcunda takes on Dalyston.
A mad keen Essendon football supporter Browne said he loves football and played U15 Juniors for the Tarwin Sharks for a couple of seasons after which time he got into umpiring and started as a field and boundary umpire in 2007, then at age 16 umpired the U18s and also got to umpire his first Seniors match between Fish Creek and Foster.
From then on Browne has umpired Senior matches, the highlight matches being the two Gippsland league grand finals between Maffra and Sale in 2012 and Leongatha and Maffra in 2016.
“This is what we strive for, you always try to get the best matches,” Browne said.
As for the big stage Browne said he did try out for the VFL but decided he enjoyed the country football and local community more.
He is keen to continue his umpiring in the local area and maintains it is a good way to keep fit, be involved with football and provides a great social environment.
The South Gippsland Umpires Association is always happy to welcome more umpires and training is held every Wednesday at the Leongatha velodrome.

300th game: South Gippsland Umpires Association umpire James Browne marked his milestone 300th game during the Phillip Island and Dalyston Seniors match on Sunday. Fellow umpire Barry McCoy will clock up his 500th match next weekend and Scott Wilson his 300th.

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Posted by Sarah Vella on Jun 20 2017. Filed under Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry