Savage waves in 100 AFL games
This article first appeared in the Canberra Times on July 20, 2012.
An advertisement in The Canberra Times started goal umpire James Savage on a path that will lead to his 100th AFL game tomorrow.
Savage grew up watching rugby union and knew nothing about Australian football when he answered an ad looking for umpires in 1999.
Now he’ll become the first Canberra-based umpire to jit the milestone when he waves the flags in the Sydney-St Kilda game at the SCG.Savage grew up in Sydney before moving to Asia with his family, and later found his way to Canberra for university.
It was here that he answered that fateful ad, which led to his AFL debut four years later in a Swans versus Essendon match at ANZ Stadium.
‘‘I spent some time overseas and in Sydney before coming to Canberra, so I didn’t really come from an AFL background,’’ Savage said.
‘‘I was just looking for something to do and actually answered an ad in The Canberra Times, they were looking for umpires and it all went from there.’’
It has taken the 37-year-old nearly 10 years to bring up his century due to several factors.
Firstly, opportunities for AFL goal umpires in this part of the country were limited – until Greater Western Sydney’s introduction this year – to Swans games.It meant all the top flag wavers in NSW/ACT were fighting over one game every second week.
Secondly, a broken leg earlier this season saw him miss eight weeks.
