Tony Lade will umpire his 1100th game, spanning 45 years

He's seen everything over 45 years, but a match at Corryong will take some topping.

"Ken Gogoll and I walked into the umpires' sheds and there was a guy punching the walls," he recalled.

"I looked at Ken and Ken looked at me and we said, 'what's going on here mate'.

"He said, 'I'm just warming up for the big game, I'm your boundary umpire'.

"So as we go out, he's singing behind us, but during the first quarter he seemed to be going OK.

"At quarter-time, Ken and I are talking and he's undoing Ken's shoelaces and then ties them together (laughs), so we're not sure what the guy is up to.

"Later on, there was a scuffle right near the boundary and the boundary umpire is down on his knees and is slapping his hand on the ground, you know, like the wrestling referees do, and he's going, 'hit him, hit him, hit him'.

Then the 'divvy van' (police wagon) drives onto the ground, the game stops of course and they grab the boundary umpire, put him in handcuffs and put him in the back of the van and drive off.

"Everybody's cheering and we found out later someone had broken into the chemist the night before and stolen some items.

"As we were going off the ground, I can hear one guy's voice yelling out over everybody else, 'that's what you get umpires, you've got to lift your game' (laughs loudly)."

The 74-year-old reckons you don't generally hear too many comments over the fence, but that one you just couldn't miss.

Lade injured his knee while playing for Bethanga in the 1970s and was talking with a work colleague who asked him to help out umpiring the next day at The Scots School Albury.

"After the first quarter I was ready to chuck it in, I reckon I'd run eight miles (13 kilometres) (laughs), I didn't know where to stand, I was just following the ball everywhere, like a rover," he offered.

But he stuck at it and was rightfully proud when son Andrew and a bunch of other teenagers took up the trade.

"And all those kids went on to umpire Ovens and Murray (Football League) finals," he praised.

Lade rates Andrew, who was also one of Cricket Albury-Wodonga's finest players of the past 30 years, alongside Noel Trebley, (current AFL umpire) Jacob Mollison and Scott Miller as his best umpires, while the 74-year-old is an Albury Umpires League Hall of Famer.

But his greatest compliment is for his wife of 52 years.

"I've got to give special praise to my long-suffering wife Margaret," he said.

He's umpired some of the AFL's biggest names, including Dermott Brereton and Robert DiPierdomenico in an Australia v Ireland match at Lavington Sportsground.

Lade will rack up the remarkable achievement as goal umpire in Beechworth's senior home clash against Dederang Mount Beauty.

He just hopes he doesn't make a scene like he did at Burrumbuttock one day.

"Ray Trebilcock was umpiring with me and the trainers' room was next to the umpires and I just wanted a quick rubdown of my hammies before I went out," he remembered.

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"Ray was at the door, saying, 'come on, hurry up,' so as soon as the trainer was finished I whipped the shorts back on and we were out in the middle of the ground and Ray said, 'I can't go any further'. I said, 'what's up'? He said, 'I wasn't going to tell you, but you've got your shorts on, inside out', so I put them on the right way there."

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