Rowan Sawers

Rowan Sawers (born 19 October 1954) is a former Australian rules football umpire and current Australian Football League Umpires' Coach.

Until Hayden Kennedy surpassed his record on 8 September 2007, no VFL/AFL umpire had officiated more games than Sawers, whose career spanned two decades and 410 matches. Sawers also umpired eight State of Origin games and was involved in two International rules football tours to Ireland. He was recruited from the Southern Umpire's Association.

Career summary:
* Umpiring career: 1977-1997; Games: 410, Finals: 31
* Grand Finals: 4 (1982, 1984, 1987, 1990)

Rowan Sawers began his League career at Moorabbin Oval in May 1977.
“My first bounce in League football didn’t bounce – the ball got stuck in the mud. Paul Callery, the St.Kilda rover, plucked the Sherrin out of the bog and played on.” [http://www.aflua.com.au/pdf/AFLUA_team_of_the_century.pdf]
Twenty-one seasons later in 1997 he became the AFL games record holder.

He is currently a member of the AFL's Laws of the Game Committee and the AFL Umpires coach, a position which he has held since December 1997.

In 2002 he was named in the AFL Umpires Association "Umpires' Team of the Century".

In 2004 the Australian Football League inducted into Sawers to the Australian Football Hall of Fame joining a select group of 11 umpires so honoured to date.

References

* [http://new.afl.com.au/Season2007/Awards/HallofFame/Umpires/tabid/857/Default.aspx AFL Hall of Fame]
* [http://www.aflua.com.au/pdf/AFLUA_team_of_the_century.pdf AFL Umpires' Association]