Glenn James
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| Glenn James | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Glenn Robert James | ||
| Other occupation | Teacher | ||
| Umpiring career | |||
| Years | League | Role | Games |
| 1977–1985 | VFL | Field umpire | 166 |
Glenn Robert James is a former Australian rules football umpire in the Victorian Football League. James umpired the 1982 and 1984 VFL Grand Finals and is recognised as the only Indigenous Australian to umpire VFL or AFL football.[1][2]
James was the tenth child in a family of 14. His father, an Indigenous Australian of the Yorta Yorta people, worked in the Ardmona Cannery in Shepparton. The young James attended school at Gowrie Street School in Shepparton.[1]
In 1968, James was drafted into the Australian Army and spent a year in Vietnam during the Vietnam War.[1][3] James is one of two VFL umpires to have served in Vietnam, the other being goal umpire Trevor Pescud.[4]
Football career
Playing career
With his brothers, James played for Wunghnu in the Picola & District Football League. After a broken jaw ended his playing career, James turned to umpiring.[1]
Umpiring career
After starting his umpiring career in country football, James umpired 166 VFL matches between 1977 and 1985, including the 1982 and 1984 VFL Grand Finals, and was the umpire selected in the Indigenous Team of the Century.[5][6]
As an umpire, James faced abuse from spectators on the basis of his racial background.[7] In 1978, as a result of the nature of the abuse of James, lawyer Greg Lyons studied the legality of this abuse.[8]
In 1985, James was President of the Victorian Football League Umpires Association.[9]
James has the distinction of umpiring an VFL exhibition match for Richmond vs. Carlton at the 1982 Commonwealth Games, the only time Australian rules football has been exhibited at the Commonwealth Games.