This Saturday, Locky Eccles will officiate his 1000th career game when he takes on field umpiring duties in the Warrnambool and District league clash between South Rovers and East Warrnambool.

It is a match that particularly appeals to Eccles, given the Bombers’ strong Indigenous representation.

“I picked Walter Oval because it’s the smallest ground,” the 65-year-old said with a smile.

“I’m particularly looking forward for to it because (the Indigenous players) at East Warrnambool they all call me ‘uncle’.”

Eccles is a part-time Koori liaison officer at South West Tafe, teaches working effectively with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and is also a Koori Court elder.

He has also recently taken on a role as the new Aboriginal Indigenous language project assistant teaching the Peek Wuuruung to kindergartners. 

Saturday’s match will be Eccles’ 946th for the Warrnambool and District Football Umpires Association, with his other 54 matches for the Mount Noorat league and Warrnambool and District league when it wasn’t using WDFUA officials.

He said the milestone was something he has been working towards.

“That was what my goal was: hopefully I could get to 1000,” Eccles said.

“Probably the next goal is to do another 54 games for the Warrnambool umpires and then I’ve done 1000 just for them.”

Eccles, who played junior football for Merrivale, said his uncles Kevin ‘Huck’ Dalton and Ray Dalton first steered him towards officiating the game he loved.

“I played football for Merrivale from about 13 (years old) to when I was 16. My two uncles, Uncle Huck and Uncle Ray, said to me the last year I was playing, ‘You’re too gutless’,” Eccles laughed.

“Uncle Huck was head of the umpires and said, ‘Come on lad, I’ll take you up to the umpires’. I’ve never looked back since. I’ve loved it.”

Fellow WDFUA umpire Jamie Lake is also set to ring in a milestone on Saturday, officiating his 600th game as a central umpire.

Since his first game in the role back in 1993, Lake, now 45, has become a familiar face around the region.

“Back in the day, we used to go up to the kids’ game in the morning – it was under 13s I started in – in the days of one umpire, then back in the Hampden league seniors to do the boundary umpiring in the afternoon,” Lake said.

He has umpired six senior grand finals in the Hampden league and five in the Warrnambool and District league, as well as 10 senior interleague games, the Australian community football championships and even the 2008 Australian Football International Cup.

Lake will officiate the blockbuster clash between North Warrnambool Eagles and South Warrnambool on Saturday.

He said the friendships he made along the were were a big reason for what kept him going, with the focus now also turning to helping the younger umpires come through and establish themselves.

Eccles’ and Lake’s milestones coincide with this weekend’s AFL community umpiring round, which will be marked at both national and community level.