By: Sean Stevenson
TASMANIAN football stalwarts Peter Floyd and Graeme Hamley have watched more Sherrins sail over their white floppy hats than they care to remember.
Floyd, 69, and Hamley, 61, will be inducted into the Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame as goal umpires at a gala dinner at Wrest Point Hotel-Casino on July 15.
Both actually started their careers as field umpires.
Floyd was a whistleblower for 187 games, before heading to the goal line for another 545 games.
Hamley started his career in Victoria in 1959, where he spent eights years in the middle, and 18 months as a goal umpire.
He was transferred to Hobart by his former employer Ansett in 1969, a day before he was due to umpire an interstate clash between the Big V and South Australia.
After a year off, when he actually played football for Dunalley, Hamley joined the Tasmanian Umpires Association.
Hamley umpired until 1994, finishing with 311 1/4 senior games (he replaced an injured goal umpire at three-quarter time in a game at Boyer one day).
"I wouldn't have a clue how many games I did in total," he said.
"I know Peter and I umpired 33 senior or reserve grand finals between us."
One of those was Floyd's last, and a memorable one it was -- the infamous 1986 TFL grand final between Glenorchy and Sandy Bay.
The pair agreed it was the most brutal game of football they were involved in. "Between all of us, we took 10 reports," Floyd said.
Floyd and Hamley also agreed the great Peter Hudson was the player who made their jobs most difficult, with his flat punts which used to swing like a pendulum.
Of course they also invariably found the target.
Floyd's fondest memory was the 1973 Victoria versus Tasmania game.
"Billy Barrot kicked a goal from the centre that day -- and I mean the centre," he said.
Hamley nominated the two AFL games he umpired at North Hobart Oval in the 1990s - Fitzroy v West Coast, and Fitzroy v Essendon - as his most treasured memories.
The pair remain involved in the game, Floyd as the SFL tribunal chairman and Hamley as the TUA umpiring administrator.
And their key to being a good goal umpire - concentration of course, and a beer with the players after the game.
Floyd and Hamley were among the 35 Hall of Fame inductees named yesterday.
The first 60 were named last week and the remaining 30 will be announced next week.
Last Modified on 07/07/2005 12:10