"Umpires wanted ... I could do that for a couple of years ... how fun would that be !"

Dean Margetts played footy for the Maddington “Bulls” Football Club from the ‘under 7’s” until he was 21 years old. He then retired.

After trying his hand at coaching an under 13’s team, and with two mates taking them to a grand final, he responded to an advert in the local paper … to become an umpire.

This began a speedy journey to the AFL, where he eventually umpired 376 games (after 110 league games in the WAFL), across a career spanning more than 20 seasons. He featured in 12 finals (2 Prelim’s) and is an AFL Life Member.

During his time umpiring, whilst still based in the west, he travelled well over 200 times to the east coast to umpire games. This often weekly traverse across the country was just in a day’s work for a self defined footy-head who saw umpiring as ‘his sport’.

It was on one of these flights back from a game in the east when a dramatic mid air incident occurred. If it wasn’t for a chance meeting with someone on board, his life could have changed forever.