Stawell's Ian Nicholson will wave his white flags once more on Saturday for the 2019 football season.
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Awarded a goal umpiring position on Wimmera Football League grand final day, Mr Nicholson caps off the region's finals series with another milestone under his belt.
Mr Nicholson notched up his 750th game this year during the Wimmera league and Horsham district finals.
In a career which evolved from friendly banter while Mr Nicholson was playing, he said he never thought in 1982 on he would still be walking out onto football ovals in September.
"I started umpiring in my early 30's after undergoing a knee reconstruction," Mr Nicholson said.
"While I was still playing, at full-back for Navarre, the goal umpire, Brian Bibby, said to me; "the next step is over the fence".
"I said to him, as a joke, there's always your job. The year I hurt my knee he retired and I was offered the job."
Mr Nicholson said the first year was a learning experience.
"It took me half a year to stop jumping out and grabbing the ball myself before I realised I had a white coat on," he said.
"It wasn't a hard transition from a player in the backline to move into a position to watch the flight of the ball.
"Goal umpiring kept me involved with football. I didn't miss playing as I still felt part of the sport."
Mr Nicholson said he believed he had the best seat in the house as a goal umpire.
"You get to watch all the play come towards you all day," he said.
"I enjoy watching football. I do notice though when I'm not umpiring and standing along the sidelines it feels strange to be able to see both ends."
Expanding on his skills, Mr Nicholson travelled to Ballarat to umpire for four years.
"There was always advertising for umpires in the program. So one day I called them up and said I was interested," he said.
"Those days were cold though. I'll never forget having to put the plastic gear on for every game.
"It was a learning curve. I thought I knew all about umpiring until I got down there with the professionals."
Looking back into his own football career and as a football supporter, Mr Nicholson understands the passion which can be drawn into the game.
"You have to be thick-skinned sometimes," he said.
"I don't let the banter worry me. I have been known to take my cap off to hand it over and say training is on Thursday nights if they want to come along.
"I just have a bit of a laugh about some of the things which are said. Most times players will come back and apologise to you. You soon learn who the serial pests are from different teams."
Mr Nicholson said leading into finals, nerves can creep in, but he sticks to the decisions he makes at the time.
"You try and think it's just another game but the bigger crowds and the intensity of the players and crowd is certainly shown," he said.
"You've got to be spot on and make your mind up with a decision in record time.
"You can cop a bit of criticism but you just need to stick by what you saw at the time and have confidence within the call you make."
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