Paul pays it forward at Asian Champs

By Chris McAsey

One of the most enjoyable things about footy in Asia is the reaction of those who experience it for the first time – particularly Australians who don’t realise how much the game has grown in recent years.

AFL Field Umpire Paul Rebeschini has both played and watched a lot of top level footy. An elite junior footballer who played in the Victorian Football League (VFL), Paul transitioned to umpiring after retiring from playing in 2014.

Paul has now umpired 85 matches in the AFL and knows the game as well as anyone. But he didn’t really know what to expect when he arrived in Chon Buri to umpire matches at the 2025 Asian Championships.

‘I knew a bit about which countries were involved, but not much else,’ Paul says.

‘Then to see 600 people involved on the Saturday, from players, coaches and umpires, it was pretty cool.’

Paul says he was ‘amazed’ at the skill level of some of the local players.

‘I met a kid from Thailand, Mani – I think he was the captain, his skills were really good. He’s a humble kid who’s obviously worked on his craft.’

‘And I loved the enthusiasm of the girls who have taken up Aussie rules.’

‘They really had a crack.’

Paul made the trip to Thailand from Melbourne after a call for volunteers from AFL Umpiring Operations Manager, Aaron Nunn. He was joined at the Asian Championships by a panel of umpires assembled by AFL Asia Umpiring Coordinator, Jarrod Roberts. Each competing club provided at least one umpire – most were based in the region, while a few travelled from Adelaide and Perth.

Paul says his approach to umpiring matches at the Champs was first and foremost to ‘let them play.’

‘I think it was important to pay the major and obvious free kicks but otherwise, we  just wanted to let them play,’ he says.

‘Of course, there’s always a focus on protecting the head.’

They say umpires have the best seat in the house – and what Paul saw close up inside the contest at the Asian Championships also impressed him.

‘They weren’t playing for sheep stations, but it was still very competitive,’ he says.

‘It got really physical, but they didn’t take a backward step. When the ball was there to be won, they put their heads over it, male and female.’

From player to whistleblower

Before his umpiring career, Paul was a talented footballer himself. He played for the Dandenong Stingrays in the TAC Cup, lining up against future stars of the AFL.

‘I’m the same age as [Collingwood captain] Scott Pendlebury,’ he says. ‘We played against each other in the 2005 TAC Cup grand final.’

‘And Tory Dickson, who won an AFL flag with the Bulldogs in 2016, was a close mate. We played together at Haileybury and later at Frankston in the VFL.’

After stints with Frankston and his home club Bonbeach, Paul gave umpiring a go in 2014 — something that had interested him since school.

‘When I was a kid, I goal umpired for pocket money,’ he says. “Then one night I sat in on a field umpire coaching session and thought, “This is interesting. I might do this one day.”’

He started umpiring in the Mornington Peninsula Football League, attending VFL training each week to fast-track his development. Within a few years he joined the VFL’s senior umpiring list, umpired in multiple grand finals, and was promoted to the AFL panel at the end of 2019.

While Paul’s progression through the umpiring ranks was steady, he says it wasn’t always smooth sailing.

‘The transition from playing to umpiring is challenging,’ he says. “You’ve got to see the game in a different way.’

‘But it’s all worthwhile now. Being involved at the highest level is really humbling.’

Paying it forward

Having learned from some of the best in the business, Paul says the Asian Champs was also a chance to give back.

‘All the umpires were really coachable, and they absorbed what I had to say, which was nice.’

‘I’ve been fortunate to learn from so many really good coaches and fellow AFL umpires, so to pass some of that on was very rewarding.’

He encourages other players to think about moving into umpiring once their playing days are over.

‘I’m 38 now, my body’s good and if you’re fit, you can stay in the game for a long period of time. [Fellow AFL umpire] Simon Meredith is 50 and still going strong.’

Paul sums up his first Asian Championships as a ‘fantastic experience.’

‘The AFL Asia team and volunteers worked really hard, obviously, to get the three grounds up and running and the catering and everything else,’ he says.

‘It was a great venue and in a country that isn’t known for AFL footy, they did it really well.’

He says the biggest highlight of his first Asian Championships was ‘the camaraderie between umpires and players throughout the day.’

‘The respect by 99.9% of the players towards the umpires, it was all just one big family for the whole day.’

Paul is keen to umpire at the Asian Champs again, and hopes his wife will join him next time.

‘I love to do it again,’ he says. ‘You meet people from such a wide range of places.’

‘The day after I got back, I said to my wife I’d love her to come next time, because she’s a real footy person too.’

‘We could make a weekend of it, and she could get involved and see what she missed out on.’