HE’S been a huge contributor to the culture of soccer in Sunraysia and, after 41 years of service, it would difficult to find a more worthy recipient of the Football Victoria Referee Local Hero Award than Shane Burrows.
Burrows travelled down to Melbourne recently for the 2023 Referee Awards Night where he was one of four people from across the state presented with the award.
“I feel very honoured for all the years I’ve committed to the referees in Mildura,” Burrows said.
“I started in 1983 as a 15-year-old and I went into senior refereeing when I got injured in 1995.
“It was around about then I started taking up committee positions within the branch.”
The veteran, who simply loves the sport, said he’d used his past experiences to assist the current wave of local referees, citing one key word as the most important.
“Support.
“When I was a young referee and there were others running it, I saw incidents that happened to referees where they weren’t supported well and they left the game.
“At one stage I actually kept a tab on how many referees had come and left up here.
“Many years ago it was well over a hundred.
“I know you get the odd person leaving due to age or younger ones leaving for university but a lot left through not feeling supported.
“If you don’t get that support from your peers, then you’re more likely to give it away.
“The last 10–15 years I’ve tried to support and bat for referees even if I might have witnessed something myself that was incorrect.”
Burrows, the current appointments officer at Football Federation Sunraysia Umpires, said he was happy to share that current numbers were very strong.
“We’ve driven the junior level up to the highest level it’s been probably ever,” Burrows said.
“Some rounds this year every week was covered with three referees, which is outstanding.
“One of the female referees who moved down to Melbourne said they were struggling to get one referee down there so we must be doing something right.”
Burrows said he was equally passionate about refereeing and football – his passion for the latter proven by the fact that he’s taken time off work to work watch the world cup every year since 1986.
“I watch many more hours than my wife would like me to watch and I’ve picked up a few things watching these professionals,” he said.
“I’ve been married to my wife nearly 35 years and to the game for 41 years.
“It’s been a long association to the game but I love my wife very much as well.”
