Warrnambool umpire Andrew Lougheed to officiate 400th game

The 47-year-old will officiate his 400^th game with the Warrnambool and District Football Umpires Association on Saturday when he takes charge of the Hampden league clash between Koroit and Camperdown.

Lougheed, who started umpiring in the region in the 1980s, will share the special occasion with son Michael, 13, who will run the boundary.

His other son, Aaron, 11, is also a promising boundary umpire who has officiated Warrnambool and District league senior games already.

"That's a nice thing to be able to share with my family and we go to training together and we get the opportunity to umpire together," Lougheed told The Standard.

"It's a good family association. I'm looking forward to it, it should be good fun.

"It would have been nice to run with both of them but he (Aaron) is only 11, so he's doing pretty good to be umpiring senior football at 11."

Lougheed described the milestone as a "long time coming" after he brought up his 200^th game in the late 1990s.

He moved to Melbourne soon after before returning to Warrnambool with his young family 10 years ago and re-joining the WDFUA.

The veteran whistle-blower officiated with the Eastern Football League and Geelong Umpires at different stages while in Melbourne before taking a hiatus because of his demanding work as a paramedic.

"I've always just done it for the pure enjoyment of it not the milestones but they sneak up on you which is a nice thing," Lougheed said.

"It's great to be doing it where I started, with the Warrnambool umpires. They've been great to me over the years."

Unfortunately, Lougheed's father Ray will be unable to watch his son's milestone game on Saturday as he has tickets to see renowned British comedian John Cleese in Melbourne, however his mum Annette will be in attendance.

Lougheed - after umpiring his first senior grand final last season - would love to officiate another this year but knows it won't be easy after a pre-season injury delayed the start to his campaign.

"That sort of set me back by about seven weeks," he said. I've probably only umpired eight or nine games this season.

"It probably hasn't been the ideal lead into finals but we'll see how we fare. If we can get another senior grand final that's always the goal. Time will tell."

Lougheed has no plans to hang up the whistle anytime soon.

"I'll keep going as long as I keep up with the speed of the game - the game is clearly getting faster and not slower," he said.

"It's a motivator to keep myself fit and it's motivating with my boys being involved as well to keep turning up and sharing that with them.

"It's a great thing for the mental health. I work with the ambulance service, so it's nice to have that separation from that line of work."

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