David Brehaut speaks with 2024 Ballarat Sports Hall of Fame inductee Shane McInerney (AFL umpiring)
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00:00It's an absolute honour to be here tonight with a number of the other inductees that have already
00:05been put into the Hall of Fame, some household names here in Ballarat. So yes, a great honour.
00:11It was a long journey to AFL field umpiring. How did you get into the umpiring?
00:16Well, it all starts with a love of football. And that starts with a realisation that that skill,
00:22that I hope to play football, wouldn't take me to any great heights. But then it was about having
00:26friends that were involved in umpiring. I enjoyed the challenge of what I think what umpiring would
00:32be. And I started at the Ballarat Football Umpires League and it went from there.
00:39And I suppose never in your dreams did you ever think that you'd reach that huge number of 500
00:47plus?
00:47Look, it was obviously an aspiration to be able to do one AFL game. And when I got that one AFL
00:53game, I thought, you know what, I really enjoyed that one AFL game. I think I want a second AFL
00:57game. And before you know it, yeah, look, very fortunate to have had a career that I have had.
01:05Lots of highs, lots of challenges, but an amazing opportunity and something that I'm very thankful
01:12for.
01:12And you reached the peak, the pinnacle, umpiring a couple of grand finals in the AFL.
01:19They must have been really special moments.
01:21Look, the sense of achievement, again, of being a lifelong ambition is extraordinary. But also
01:29just the sense of attention and well wishes that I got from those that perhaps who'd been following
01:35my career for 10, 20, 30 years even. Knowing that they were all there in the background,
01:42quietly supporting me. The well wishes that week was something that certainly will stick in my
01:46memory forever.