Popular trailblazer was one of a kind

League football through the 1970s and 1980s was a tough caper. Big hits. Big personalities. And it required umpires with sharp minds and sometimes a sharper tongue to navigate it all.

That summed up Glenn James to a tee.

The 2023 Sir Doug Nicholls Round honouree umpired 166 matches between 1977 and 1985, including the 1982 and 1984 Grand Finals, with his contribution recognised when he was named as the umpire in the Indigenous Team of the Century.

He was an immensely popular figure in the game.

“Glenn always had a great wit and he used that on and off the field,” legendary umpire Rowan Sawers, who partnered James in both those Grand Finals, said.

“He was straight down the line, but he did it with a smile on his face and with humour.

“Back then you could banter with the players and the players reacted to him and I think that made it easier.

“He was a good decision-maker and got along with players … I think they respected him and he respected the players.”

Colourful former North Melbourne premiership ruckman

Peter ‘Crackers’ Keenan spent many winter Saturday afternoons trading barbs with James and later worked with him as a commentator on the National Indigenous Radio Service (NIRS).

“He was an umpire with a human side and there weren’t all that many like him,” Keenan said.

In the lead-up to games, James would often seek to know if there was a player making their debut.

“After the game, he’d seek him out and go through with the kid what he had done and what he hadn’t done,” Keenan said.

James came from a prominent football family near Shepparton and spent a year serving in Vietnam before becoming an umpire.

In 2008, he worked for the Koori Court in Melbourne as a cultural advisor.

He joins Bill Dempsey (2022), Syd Jackson (2021 and 2020), Michael Long (2019) and Graham ‘Polly’ Farmer (2018) as First Nations greats of the game to be honoured during Sir Doug Nicholls Round.