Goulburn Valley Football Umpire Rob Mackay ticks past game 400 with the whistle

His journey with whistle in hand began in Melbourne’s east, wound through Gippsland and has finally settled in the Goulburn Valley.

And on Saturday, he broke through a major barrier.

Mackay ticked past game 400 — and that’s just counting senior games he’s officiated under the Goulburn Valley Football Umpires Association banner — when he nestled himself between the big sticks for the GVL clash between Shepparton Swans and Seymour.

In his eyes, “it was just like any other game, really”.

But that nonchalant response tends to speak deafening volumes about how long Mackay has been in the game.

When he started, the year was 1982, Mackay was 16, and a keen interest in football was beginning to ripen.

Umpiring didn’t cross his mind straight away.

However, that soon changed when a family member tapped Mackay on the shoulder and advised him he could get an entirely different, more intimate viewing experience of footy.

“How I got into umpiring initially was my cousin — he first said to me, because I used to be a junior member of the Hawthorn Football Club, and he goes, ‘instead of watching those dastard Hawks, why don’t you come and umpire football?’,” Mackay said.

“I said, ‘umpire football? Me? I’m not a good runner’ and he said, ‘it doesn’t matter, you’ll get paid’.

“I thought that was a little sweetener, but if you actually umpired for the money, you wouldn’t do it.

“I do it for fun.”

Mackay’s four-decades-and-counting pursuit of fun began in the Eastern District Football League — now the Eastern Football League — as a boundary umpire.

Four years of getting chalk on his boots eventually led to a gig as a field umpire.

He worked his way up through the junior grades before being elevated to senior football, later continuing that caper at the Alberton Football League on the way to touching down in the Goulburn Valley in 1997.

Since then, every winter Mackay has thrown on his boots, grabbed the footy and charged onto the oval with the same energy as the first time he gripped a whistle.

Although for some games, the excitement levels spiked just that little bit extra.

“The two senior grand finals I've done (are my favourite),” he said.

“I did the Picola North West one back in 2011 between Berrigan and Jerilderie at Berrigan, and also two years ago when I did the Murray league grand final in the goals.

“You're always on the balls of your feet — extra excited — because it's the result of a great year.”

Whether it’s September glory or bone-chilling July cold, Mackay has been there.

In 43 years of umpiring, Mackay has only missed a couple of seasons.

And when the dedication runs that deep, it’s no surprise he’s had to deflect a bit of flak along the way.

“I remember one lady — this was down in Wonthaggi — called out over the fence,” he said.

“She knew my name because she was the team manager and everything, and just yelled and screamed out and said, ‘hey Rob, you saw that, you bloody white … whatever’.

“But other than that, I haven't really let it get to me at all.”

Mackay is no-nonsense when it comes to weekend business.

An umpiring purist, he’s seldom dazzled by footballers, but rather sees the game in straight lines.

While Mackay said the standard of the game and crowd numbers in the country have dipped since he began, it hasn’t deterred him from umpiring.

He can look back on 400 senior GVFUA games with pride, and realistically, if you were to tally his career total, it would likely triple that figure.

So is he ready to pack it in yet?

Mackay reckons that decision will be made by his body, not his mind.

“Well, I am 59, so that’s why I don’t central umpire any more,” he said.

“My knees and ankles said, ‘sorry boy, you've got to slow down a bit’.

“But other than that — who knows? I’ll keep going as long as I can do it.”