He was a whistle blower at Pimpinio for a remarkable game between the Tigers and Laharum – one of the lowest-scoring games of Rudolph’s career. The Mountain Men triumphed 1.12 (18) to 0.6 (6).

The sole goal-scorer was the recipient of a Rudolph free kick that allowed him to slot the game’s only major.

That player just happened to be Rudolph’s daughter’s boyfriend at the time.

Laharum claimed the four points that day, but a marriage proposal from the free kick recipient never came.

‘‘You can imagine I copped a bit of flack over that,’’ Rudolph said.

This memory is one of a myriad Rudolph has reflected on as he prepares to umpire his 1000th football game on Saturday.

‘‘It’s a mixture of nervousness, excitement and making sure that nothing goes wrong,’’ he said.

‘‘It’s certainly crept up on me pretty quickly.’’

Rudolph started umpiring at 22, when he realised playing football was not for him.

‘‘I played with the Quantong Football Club in the reserves but I was not a good footballer,’’ he said.

When a friend suggested he should take up umpiring, Rudolph jumped at the chance.

He said he took to it like a duck to water.

Almost 37 years later, he will reach an unfathomable milestone.

‘‘I thought I’d be here a bit sooner, but I had a hiccup two years ago when I had a bit of arthritis in my knee,’’ Rudolph said.

But with some treatment and a stint behind the goals, he returned to the centre circles.

‘‘I was jealous because the guys were running around and I was dormant in the goal-square,’’ he said.

‘‘I never thought I’d be here umpiring my 1000th game. 

‘‘I just wanted to umpire footy. It’s been a long journey, that’s for sure. I never had any aspirations.’’

Rudolph’s tenure has seen some crazy occurrences, from reporting an umpire for striking a player, giving a free kick to a player when he was pushed in the back by his team-mate, and being attacked by an angry spectator.

‘‘I got slapped by an injured player who was a spectator and I considered giving it away after that,’’ he said.

‘‘It was because of the resilience and support from the other umpires who said, ‘No, don’t. Then he’ll feel like he’s had a win over you’, that I kept going.’’

Rudolph said umpiring was now a ‘season to season thing’.

‘‘But I intend to keep going. I’ve always said I want to umpire football while I have the fire in the belly and I still enjoy it,’’ he said.

‘‘It’s keeping me fit and I’m still engaged in a game I love.’’

Rudolph believes he could be the only one happy with his decision to add to his 999 games.

‘‘There might be a lot of footballers out there hoping I do retire,’’ he said.