Wayne Geisler recently brought up 400 games as a GVFUA umpire.
Photo by
Josh Huntly
For Nathalia’s Wayne Geisler, volunteering is in the blood.
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When he’s not serving his community as captain of Nathalia CFA, where he has been a member for four decades, Wayne trades the heavy-duty gear for the green variety on the weekends, officiating around the local footy traps as a goal umpire.
Across 26 seasons, Wayne has manned his section of the ground dutifully as an official with the Goulburn Valley Football Umpires Association.
And after starting out in 1999, Wayne’s progression from helping out with a whistle on the boundary line at the local club to becoming a stalwart of the GVFUA took another step when he notched a prestigious milestone last weekend — his 400th game.
“I used to umpire boundary for the (Nathalia) Football Club,” Geisler said.
“I got to the point of do I want to keep doing this or do I want to go and look for some challenges?
“Some guys at Nathalia that I knew were umpires, so I made the transition to go and start central umpiring.
“It’s been a pleasure to be able to umpire that many games and lucky to be able to umpire that many games.”
Wayne stood a total of 270 games as a main umpire, in that time overseeing a combination of reserves and thirds grand finals in the Goulburn Valley, Murray, and Kyabram District Leagues.
He’s seen the full gamut of change in umpiring throughout that time, and points to having the best seat in the house observing ex-AFL talent as a highlight when officiating in the senior ranks, including a former Wilf Cox Medallist.
“Most of those players have been very good to umpire, and good out on the ground as well as in the rooms after the game,” he said.
“Trent Hotton from Mansfield was probably one of the best I've seen.
“On one particular day, he had the ball on an absolute string, and I had the best seat in the house.”
Wayne signals the goal umpires trademark.
Photo by
Josh Huntly
A knee cartilage issue failed to dull Wayne’s desire to umpire and sparked a shift to the goal-line, where he has resided since.
And he continues to signal the scores in a community he’s proud to continue his association in.
“Volunteering is sort of something that I've always been involved in,” he said.
“Meeting people and catching up with people that you’ve met along the way … even though you're an umpire, you still meet players down the street or wherever and they'll still recognise you and have time to say today.
“That’s probably the bit I enjoyed most out of it.”
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