AFL umpire ‘Razor’ Ray Chamberlain has revealed just how seriously the umpiring fraternity treat the Brownlow Medal.
Each game, the three field umpires are given the unenviable task of allocating the votes which eventually decide the best and fairest in the AFL for that particular season.
Often described as the ‘midfielder’s award’, Chamberlain has divulged that he and his fellow match officials do not simply hand out votes to those accumulating the ball most frequently.
“Every player now, other than a handful, are full length of the field players,” Chamberlain said on SEN SA Breakfast.
“The notion of it, the ball is in those guys’ hands way more. They are all over the place.
“We are all different in how we see the game.
“The questions we always raise are who was the best big (man) and why? Who was the best defender, why?
“Those conversations take place and then ultimately three guys have got to come to an agreement as to who they believe had the most influence over that game on the day.
“I remember being in the change room for an hour after the game and three of us couldn’t come to an agreement on Brownlow votes.
“It’s something that the guys are really passionate about. They don’t just fill in a form and get out of there.
“We hold it really dear to us and we try our absolute best to get the right result each week.
“We don’t always get it right, there’s no doubt about that, but it is something that we value incredibly highly.”
Chamberlain also made it vehemently clear that umpires never discuss the votes they give out on a weekly basis such is the importance of keeping Brownlow voting locked away.
“There are two things about the Brownlow that I can openly say,” he added.
“The first thing is, in 15 years I’ve never heard another umpire speak about the votes that they cast in a game. Not ever.
“That’s made very clear to you when you arrive at the AFL, there’s certain things you just don’t joke around with.
“The second part is that it’s not just done after the game. Throughout the game, you work out who had the most influence in each quarter so it’s an ongoing dialogue that takes place.
“Then at the end of the game, we have to decide who we believed had the most influence.”
Listen to the chat with Razor Ray below: