On a farm at Nathalia a game of football breaks out.
Children of various ages kick the pigskin to each other, stand the mark, tackle, go for goal and do everything else that comes with a makeshift game of Australian rules football.
Among the cohort of football-mad children vying for the ball is a young Anthony Oliver, who, while also playing along, has taken up the role of officiating this game of football on the farm.
The role of umpiring comes naturally to Oliver, even before his age hit double digits.
His talent and passion for adjudicating would lead this born and raised ‘Nathalian’ to become the youngest umpire in Goulburn Valley Football Umpires Association history to reach the 300-game milestone.
Oliver’s umpiring journey, which started with those seemingly innocuous games of farm football, has seen him travel the country and officiate some of the biggest names in the AFL today.
On a cold winter’s day at Nathalia Recreation Reserve, Oliver sat down and reflected on his rise to 300.
“I broke my arm when I was in grade (four),” he said.
“I used to come down here and do Auskick — I used to goal umpire the Auskick and then went from there.
“Started umpiring football when I was 11 years old; first game was in Murchison back in 2007 off the top of my head.”
That decision to follow his passion led to quick on-field success for Oliver, with the young adjudicator finding his feet fast between the big sticks.
“Ten years of goal umpiring,” he said.
“I have done seven senior grand finals over the time: three (Goulburn Valley League) grand finals and one Murray league, two (Kyabram District League) and a Picola league grand final — as a goal umpire.”
Seventeen years on from the first official game he umpired, Oliver is now a mainstay of the Goulburn Valley Football Umpires Association.
The 28-year-old adjudicates matches across all the main leagues in the region as a field umpire; despite Oliver’s love for goal umpiring, he now performs his role as a field umpire due to his youth and mobility being worth its weight in gold in the umpiring ranks.
Oliver’s enthusiasm and love for the game of Aussie rules is undoubted, with the 300-odd game veteran saying he can be a passionate umpire on the field.
“Sometimes I can be not the calmest umpire,” he said.
“I can get a bit overwhelmed sometimes, but I am trying to get a bit better at calming the situation or trying to get me calmed down.
“(However), I feel like I am (overall) a placid and calm umpire that tries to umpire the game as I see it.”
In 2017, Oliver won the heralded Ian Coates Memorial Award for being the Goulburn Valley Football Umpires Association’s Umpire of the Year for his commitment and dedication to his craft.
During his junior umpiring years, Oliver’s goal umpiring talent saw him officiate some of the best young footballers in the region, state and country.
“When I was younger, I was involved in a bit of interleague football,” he said.
“I did a GVL interleague senior game — back about 10-15 years ago — that was an achievement.
“I went to Melbourne a few years ago when I was younger and did the V/Line Cup, which was a pretty cool experience umpiring with people from all over the country.
“When I was at school, I went to the Australian School Championships through School Sports Victoria as a goal umpire and actually went to Adelaide and represented the state.”
Throughout the week, the only whistling Oliver makes is when he is steaming milk for a takeaway latte or cappuccino at a local bakery in town, where he works in front of house.
And while he now sees officiating games more as his job rather than solely his passion, Oliver said becoming the youngest person to umpire 300 games was a proud moment in his life.
“Still like my umpiring, but probably more the money side of things is why I like it,” he said.
“(Reaching 300 games) is probably the proudest achievement I have done over time.
“It hasn’t really sunk in, but it was a big achievement because I was only 28 and one day when I did it.
“It’s probably good that someone who started when they were 11 could go from there to what I have achieved now.”
The question on the lips of Australian rules football’s governing bodies — community and professional — is how to get young boys and girls, like Oliver was, involved with and passionate about umpiring.
Oliver believes it’s not something you can force on people.
Instead, he encouraged children to give umpiring a shot if they were interested and see if it would stick.
“Just have a go at it,” he said.
“It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but a lot of kids probably do it for the extra money side of things.
“Back when I started, it was more for the passion of loving it.”
Throughout his 300 games, Oliver has officiated over some household names, both for the region and the country.
His time umpiring the now-named Coates Talent League and top-flight country football competitions has given Oliver access to watch and officiate some players with genuine X-factor.
“I did umpire Harley Reid back in the day when I was umpiring the (Coates Talent League),” he said.
“Jake Stringer, I umpired him when he was playing with the Pioneers back in the day — he was not bad to umpire.
“The local ones like Paul Newman (stick out in my memory) as well.”