Meet seven-year-old umpire HarlenTuesday, February 20, 2018 - 3:12 PM

Picture this.

A young, enthusiastic seven-year-old boy donning an oversized, bright green umpire shirt, and long shorts that clip the top of his knee-high socks. He’s holding a footy under his right arm, wearing a bright green hat, and a big smile.

Meet Harlen, the West Australian Football League umpires' number one ticket holder for the 2018 season.

Harlen turned seven in January and his parents organised something very special for his birthday!  

The lucky little umpire fanatic recently took part in an umpire training session run by Perth-based AFL field umpire Dean Margetts at Subiaco Oval – SURPRISE!

It all came about after Dean spotted the youngster who was wearing the ‘full kit’ at a Shane Woewodin High Performance Football Academy match cheering on his older brother.

“What an amazing kid! To see young Harlen confidently wearing green at the age of seven tells me he already has the courage and resilience to become a huge success when he gets the chance to blow the whistle in the future,” Dean said.

Last week Harlen showed the umpiring training group, which included AFLW umpire Gabby Simmonds and WAFL umpire Mark Worobec, his umpiring moves, and centre bounces.

“The day was so special for me. I loved it,” he said.

“Dean Margetts is my favourite umpire because he was the first umpire I properly met and he is really nice and I like that he invited me to the training session.”

Harlen’s fascination for umpiring started at the tender age of four.

Harlen began watching his brothers and their friends kick the footy around in the backyard to see what all the fuss was about, and it wasn’t long until he was out there officiating the games!

“I loved watching my brothers play football and I saw a lot of umpiring on the TV and I really started to like it a lot when I was smaller,” he said.

His mum Francine was amazed at how quickly he picked up the sport.

“Harlen would watch every game of footy on TV over and over again, studying all the umpire moves and the rules of the game,” she said.

“Last year we had to hide the whistle we bought him when the footy was on telly! He got so into the game and the whistle got a good work out!

“He is completely obsessed.”

Francine said Harlen received a special umpire goodies box at the end of the training session, which was full of umpire shirts, whistles, wristbands and much more.

“He was completely blown away once he saw how much was in the box,” she said.

“He told me it was better than going to Disneyland, even though he's never been!”

Francine said Harlen wants to get to as many WAFL and AFL matches as possible this year so he can umpire junior footy as soon as he is old enough.

“He can’t wait to get to as many games as he can this season to see his heroes in action,” she said.

Harlen was asked what he would like to be when he grows up…well we all guessed it.

“When I grow up I want to be an AFL field umpire. I just love how you can umpire on the field and I love doing all the moves like holding the ball, push in the back and sling.”

Harlen has a few years to go before he can umpire games of footy, but if you’re 13 years and over and want to be involved in our great game, make new friends, get fit and get paid for it simply register your details here.