At the end of the HDFNL clash between Noradjuha-Quantong and Jeparit-Rainbow, the tireless Frank Marklew was honoured for his 900th game of umpiring football when both teams formed a guard of honour at the end of the match.

"It was a real honour, the respect I got from Noradjuha-Quantong and Jeparit-Rainbow, clubs who I've umpired over the years," Marklew said.

"At one stage, they were going to chair me off, and I thought, oh well, I feel a bit embarrassed about this.

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"It was very humbling."

Marklew has been a staple of the Wimmera and Horsham football umpiring scene for over thirty years. If you've ever set foot on a Wimmera football field in the past three decades, chances are you've encountered the respected official.

Marklew first decided to pick up the whistle after retiring from a successful playing career. After missing football, he decided to give officiating a crack on the advice of umpire Maurice Rudolph, and as they say, the rest is history.

"I played for a lot of years, probably a couple of hundred games I suppose and then when I gave up playing I played a reserves grand final and I thought I might as well retire while I'm on top," Marklew said.

"I went down to training, and within the first twelve months, I'd umpired a junior grand final, and I won the golden whistle, and then the next year I did a grand final there in the seniors.

In his 900-plus games, Marklew amassed many achievements that include umpiring interleague matches, "nine or ten" Wimmera League" deciders and "half-a-dozen Horsham District" grand finals.

He has seen first-hand the high-quality standard of country football and witnessed ex-AFL players like Alister Ford (St Kilda), Brent Tuckey (Collingwood) and Damian Cupido (Brisbane and Essendon) strut their stuff.

There is, however, one exceptional experience that stands out for him, and that was when he was able to officiate a match with his son Leigh some years ago now.

"Him (Leigh) and I had a chance to umpire together and it was a real highlight," Marklew said.

"I remember walking out onto the ground, and I said, do you want to hang onto dad's hand like you used to crossing the road?

"He certainly told me where to go."

After 30 years in any industry, you're bound to experience a lot of change. Football umpiring is no different; the AFL rulebook is probably more susceptible to change than other work policies.

According to Marklew, the game "has probably got a bit more complicated" than when he started umpiring.

"I reckon if I was playing again you'd say what can a player do?" He said.

"But we don't write the rules; we just enforce them.

"It's hard for players because there's sort of no push in the back now. The smaller player can't out-mark the big tall ruckman, so they used to try and chop arms.

"It has put more pressure on players and the umpires this year with the stand rule, every time a player takes a mark we've got to stay stand."

Luckily Marklew has been able to strike up a relationship with former AFL Umpire Coach Hayden Kennedy, who can advise the 900-gamer.

"I've known Hayden Kennedy, the ex-coach of the AFL umpires for years and I've had the privilege of going down to their training and meeting half the umpires, Ray Chamberlain and all them," Marklew said.

"They're just like any other umpiring group and over the years when I've wanted to know about rules, I just hop on the phone or email Hayden and he'd get back to me and let me know."

Like athletes, umpires need a good support base, which Marklew says is one of the secrets to his long career.

"As I've said you need the support of your family," he said.

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"My wife Carolyn, Leigh my son and my daughter Aimee, cause we're like players, it's always good to discuss other games with people and it's always good to have support from your family and your other umpires."

Although Marklew isn't hanging up the whistle and will "try to go for as long as [he] can", the good news is that when he ultimately does retire, the umpiring fraternity in the region will be in good hands.

"I've probably been umpiring over thirty years and I reckon this is one of the strongest years we've had for recruits," Marklew said.

"We had Chelsea Roffey and Eleni Glouftsis, the AFL field umpires, up about three or four weeks ago, and I had the privilege of taking them all around the schools with myself and Cam Pickering.

"I reckon since then we've picked up two or three girls and probably about 12 or 13 new recruits, which is good."

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