Four female boundary umpires created history on Saturday when they were appointed to officiate the Round 21 VFL match between Port Melbourne and Richmond at the Swinburne Centre.
It was the first time an all-female team has run a senior men’s state league match nationally.
The four umpires – Greta Miller, Melissa Sambrooks, Madeleine Lum and Kaitlin Barr – are all highly skilled and through their own journeys have successfully progressed through the pathway systems to achieve numerous career highlights.
Miller has been a trailblazer for female boundary umpires and since her promotion to the pathway in 2015, became the first female boundary umpire to officiate 50 VFL senior games. A terrific leader, she has also run 39 AFLW games and was part of the AFLW Grand Final Panel in 2019.
With passion to drive culture and help develop her fellow peers, Sambrook’s journey through state league pathways started in 2016. Six years later in 2022 she made her senior debut and was elevated to the AFLW list later that season. She progressed onto the VFL senior squad in 2023.
After running the VFLW grand final a few weeks ago, Lum’s dedication and perseverance to her craft has seen her run 85 state level matches and 25 AFLW games, while Barr was promoted to the state league panel in 2019 and made her VFL debut earlier this season.
AFL General Manager Umpiring Lisa Lawry said Saturday marked an important milestone in Australian football.
“Having an all-female boundary umpire panel for the first time in VFL history is something we should be celebrating and the culmination of a lot of hard work from our coaches and umpires,” Lawry said.
“All of these umpires have put in countless hours of work to develop their craft at the senior level and are an inspiration to other young umpires.
“The numbers of female umpires within the elite pathway are increasing year-on-year as we continue to invest in talent pathways and umpiring at all levels of the game.”
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