A Season of Celebration of Rod Clarke
John Forrest Secondary College Mathematics teacher Rod Clarke is celebrating his 40th year of community service in AFL umpiring during the 2026 Perth Football League season. Rod has been at John Forrest Secondary College since 1997, so he has met up with several students and staff on the Aussie Rules Football field during his journey.
Rod admits it is always heartening when a former student from John Forrest approaches him on the football field.
"It is a great part of my day when an ex-student from Johnno approaches me on the footy field and says, "Hello Mr Clarke, remember me?" he said.
"I always take the opportunity to have a brief chat with them and wish them all the best for their game."
"I have also umpired games featuring JFSC teachers Mark Faletti, Kane Jerricho, Reece Phoenix and David Morey. They all played very well, and it was fantastic to see them in a different environment outside of school."
Rod's interest in Aussie Rules commenced when he was in primary school, as a spectator at WA National Football League games and as a junior player at North Innaloo. His playing days in the sport continued into the WA Amateur Football League, however his position in the ruck often led to several days of discomfort. He retired as a player after 2 seasons because he considered the pain he had to cope with for several days after a game was impacting on his job as a teacher.
Rod commenced as a field umpire with the amateurs in 1987.
"Umpire training was at University's McGilvray Oval, and I also remember seeing the West Coast Eagles doing their pre-season training at the same ground in their inaugural year as well, because at that stage they had not been allocated a training venue of their own." he recalled.
The first 20 years of Rod's umpiring career were spent as a field umpire. During this time, Rod operated as a single field umpire for 8 years, and in the two-field umpire system for 12 years.
For the past 20 years Rod has been a goal umpire in what is now called The Perth Football League.
Rod feels that there are a lot of similarities in personnel and policies between The Education Department of WA and the Perth Football League.
"The people I interact with at both footy and school are conscientious, willing to learn and adapt to new ideas, of healthy mindset and accepting of people for who they are." he said.
"The umpiring fraternity in general is reflective of teaching in respect to their core values."
Throughout his teaching career, Rod has helped develop a few players who have played at the elite level.
Rod coached West Perth and Essendon player Darren Bewick in the u/12s at Tuart Hill.
"I decided to coach a junior team whilst I was at Teacher's College to develop my ability to work with children" he said.
In his 1st year of teaching at Beverley District High School, Rod taught Claremont and Fremantle player Scott Edwards and his cousin Brad Edwards who played for Perth, Fitzroy and Brisbane Bears.
"They were both great lads to teach, and they loved their footy" he said.
"Later on in my teaching career I also taught Swan Districts, Fremantle and St Kilda player Craig Callaghan at Lockridge Senior High School. When I taught Craig in his youth, he was already developing the attributes required to make it to the highest level; mature, disciplined and focussed."
Rod's motivation to umpire continuously for 40 years is to do his bit to help amateur players receive fair judgement of the rules. At the end of a week of teaching during the footy season, he looks forward to every Saturday so that he can travel to various football grounds and interact with the players, family, friends, their pet dogs and fellow umpires.
Rod has grown to respect the huge effort that players, coaches and the support teams put into clubs and loves every game day because for him it is an occasion to adjudicate the greatest game on Earth, namely Australian Rules Football.
"Every game of Aussie Rules that I umpire in is an opportunity for me to be part of the fabric that makes Australian culture so magnificent. In recent years at West Coast games, a feature of my day is seeing a Kelpie dog at the ground. The Kelpie enters the field of play during the quarter time breaks and engages in low crawling, intense staring, and rounding up exercises. The Kelpie also loves to hide inside the inner circle of umpires which makes me laugh" he said.
Also, from his position in the goals, Rod often overhears funny antics from the crowd. One that sticks in his mind was at Wanneroo Showgrounds. The play was at the other end of the ground, and a defender was standing alongside Rod in the goal mouth. A spectator yelled out:
"Look! number 16 is manning up against the umpire; he must have got shifted onto him to make sure he doesn't get a kick'"
A recent umpiring thrill for Rod was his appointment as a goal umpire in the 2024 drawn Grand Final at Bassendean Oval, namely Swan Athletic versus Jandakot. The scores were a draw for most of the last quarter, and neither team managed to score during that time. Rod thought surely someone must break the deadlock prior to the final siren, but no one did. The result of the premiership had to be decided in extra game time, and Rod was the goal umpire to adjudicate the winning score.
Rod is not ready to retire yet.
"I really enjoy both teaching, and umpiring, so for now I will continue to do both, besides next year I will be celebrating 50 years as a WA State Government school teacher." he said.
