On Sunday afternoon, with the bounce of a football in the centre Etihad stadium, Eleni Glouftsis made history.
The teacher turned field umpire is the first woman ever to officiate a senior AFL match and despite a few jitters, she totally nailed it.
“I’m pretty pleased for the game to be over,’’ she told the Herald Sun after the match between Essendon and West Coast wrapped up.
“It was a really big build-up, but I’m just really pleased to get the first one under the belt.”
The 25-year-old from South Australia started umpiring in 2008 and already has 33 VFL matches to her name.
It isn’t the first time Glouftsis cemented her place in the history books, either. She also umpired a pre-season match between the Bombers and Carlton earlier this year.
While there were a couple of bounces that went astray, the crowd – and the players – were well and truly behind her.
“On the field, even when I had a poor bounce, a lot of the boys were like ‘keep going, be confident’, which was really lovely,” she told the Herald Sun.
“They have been really, really supportive, which is great.”
She also joined fellow trailblazer Chelsea Roffey, the first female goal umpire, on the field.
Bravo ladies!
