First female boundary umpires in AFL reflect on historic evening

After the AFLW season opener between Carlton and Collingwood, boundary umpires Melissa Sambrooks, Kaitlin Barr and Greta Miller were taken into a private room under the guise of getting some feedback.

In there, boundary coach Darren Wilson told them over the phone that the following weekend, they'd each become the first female boundary umpires to officiate a men's AFL game.

"We were all in shock," Miller told ABC Sport,

She and Sambrooks officiated Carlton and Essendon's game on Thursday, while Barr umpired North Melbourne and Adelaide's game at Docklands on Saturday.

"It just felt like a blur. That whole night my hands were shaking, I couldn't stop smiling. My cheeks hurt but it just felt so surreal," Miller said.

"I couldn't go to sleep [that night] because it felt like Christmas."

Boundary umpiring can be especially challenging due to the physically and running capability required. (Getty: Robert Cianflone)

Thankfully for the Miller, the night came around very quickly, helping with the nerves and anticipation.

"As it got closer, I had to switch on and 'OK, job starts now'," she said.

"I just treated it the same [as any game]. I still had nerves, but it was just making me perform better, just go to a higher level."

Both Miller and Sambrooks started umpiring at just 12 at their local footy league — both in search of some extra pocket money — while Barr took it up in her final year of high school.

All progressed through VFL and AFLW.

Iniativies by the AFL have seen female participation increase by 72 per cent in the last three years across all levels of umpiring. (Getty: Robert Cianflone)

While Eleni Tee (100 games) and Chelsea Roffey (300 games) have broken new ground in field and goal umpiring respectively, there remain few female umpires at AFL level.

In 2022, women made up just 10.8 per cent of umpires across all levels and 2.6 per cent at AFL level.

That number has increased to just under 20 per cent (a 72 per cent increase) across all levels in the past three years, according to the AFL, with women making up 36 per cent of the AFLW umpire list.

Melissa Sambrooks started umpiring when she was 12 at local league football and eventually progressed through VFL and AFLW. (Supplied: Melissa Sambrooks/Dylan Burns)

"Once you start running W games, you're running with ex-AFL umpires and the advice they give you excels your experience and skills. That's where I just took a big leap in my career," Miller said.

"Hopefully in the next couple of years, it just becomes so normal for female umpires to come through the AFL."

One of the challenges in getting women and girls into boundary umpiring, Sambrooks said, is the physicality and running capability required.

"You have to be such a good runner but also have the strength and abilities to throw the ball in whilst incorporating in reading the play, understanding what's happening, the positioning," Sambrooks said.

"So as much as a lot of people go, 'Oh, they're just running the boundary', there is so much more to it … but it's not something that's impossible, as we've shown."

Miller said there was some nice symmetry in that she umpired the AFL women's exhibition game between Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs in 2015 at the MCG and was back 10 years later.

Kaitlin Barr officiated Saturday's match between North Melbourne and Adelaide. (Getty: Morgan Hancock)

She and Sambrooks officiated the very first AFLW game in 2017 together, while Barr umpired last year's AFLW grand final between North Melbourne and Brisbane.

They ran 16 kilometres during Thursday's match at the MCG.

"The first quarter was really tough without a goal in the first 15 minutes," Sambrooks said.

"Just continuous turnovers and having to work hard … Luckily, it was a little bit more consistent with goals for the rest of the game after that, but yeah, really big Ks and definitely tough on the body."

Fan of boundary umpires Olivia Grcic holds up sign during the North Melbourne and Port Adelaide AFLW game on Sunday afternoon. (Supplied: author.)

After the game, Miller said the moment started to really sink in as the messages poured in from friends and family.

"I saw the AFL post something, and people are coming up to me, and they're like, 'Oh, you've made history'," Miller said.

"Now I'm just like, wow, we myself, Mel and Kailtin, we're history makers now, and hopefully we're what makes younger girls look up to us and then want to do what we do too."

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