The Master of the Game: John Sullivan
By Bronte Kerr and Isabelle O’Brien.
Affectionately known as ‘Sully’, and earning the honorary moniker of ‘the Master’, Sullivan truly is a veteran of the game.
Sullivan describes how at the tender age of 19 he fell into umpiring as a result of an unfortunate accident whilst playing in the AMT league in Adelaide in the early 1960s.
Following a brief stint in umpiring, ‘Sully’ entered into the National Service for a year in 1965, and was later transferred to Singleton in NSW.
It was here that he developed his unwavering passion for the Hunter Valley, in addition to meeting his future wife, who hailed from Dungog.
Sully is a master of all trades, boasting a wealth of knowledge in field, boundary and goal umpiring.
“I certainly still love my field umpiring because I get to run around up here with the under age group and give a little bit of so called experienced advice to the younger generation,” he says.
“I love my goal umpiring because I do that week in week out with the senior group here.
“I’ve done the three disciplines over the year and I can’t say that I’ve ever not enjoyed any of them.”
Sullivan’s dedication to the game saw him reach the impressive milestone of umpiring his 950th AFL game a in June of 2015.
In his extensive career as a grassroots AFL umpire, ‘Sully’ has seen it all.
“This game of our ours has completely changed over the years,” Sullivan reflected.
“Back in my day, when you play a position that’s the position you play and you didn’t vary from it. These days, with the way the modern day game is played, you are put in certain positions however once the ball is bounced that doesn’t mean a thing,”
“The game is so much faster than it used to be. In the past, a field umpire would have issued maybe 75-100 penalties a game, whereas now you would be lucky to issue maybe 40 free kicks.
“People would be astonished if they were to look at the old footage of the game.”
Sully’ is still heavily involved in Junior umpiring in the Newcastle region, and is quick to praise the burgeoning talent coming from the area.
Sully sang high praise in particular for Sydney Swans young gun, Isaac Heeney and firmly believes that his success is a sign of great things to come from Newcastle.
“Isaac is absolutely a wonderful player, and I’m hoping to see him back on the track for the Swans shortly. Other young kids up here have got talent and are getting more and more exposure because of the Swans and the GIANTS,” Sullivan said.
“We had something like 1100 registered junior players in the area – the game just keeps growing and growing. “
Recently, Sullivan has also involved himself in umpiring the local Youth Girls competition.
“It’s good to see them participating. The more exposure they get to the game of Aussie Rules, the better. Some of those girls really know how to play football,” Sully said.
AFL Sydney recently held a ‘blue sock round’, to raise much needed funds for Beyond Blue, an organisation that is particularly close to Sully’s heart.
“I’m absolutely grateful that this event took place. The round was particularly meaningful as I lost my own son-in-law due to depression,” Sullivan said.
“No matter what walk of life, you will know someone who has been suffering from depression. It’s just so silent.”
Closer to home, Sully’s association will hold a trivia night in the first week of August to raise money for the Black Dog Institute, another organisation committed to tackling this devastating issue.
Spend a few minutes with this man, and you can’t help but help but sense his unwavering passion for the game. Here we find a man who doesn’t plan on retiring his whistle any time soon.
One may question how Sully still manages to run around for a full four quarters of footy each weekend.
“I do get on the training track twice a week. I play golf, tennis, and row. All in all, I keep myself pretty active.”
‘Sully’ has his eyes firmly set on the big 1000, and intends to reach this incredible milestone in the next two years. When it boils down to it, Sully just can’t get enough of this great game.
