Official website of the Essendon District Football League

Sawers Receives Order of Australia Honour

Umpiring Legend Recognised


Former EDFL Umpiring and Development Manager, Rowan Sawers, has been recognised for his service to Australian rules football as an AFL umpire and to umpire coaching after being awarded the Order of Australia Medal.

Sawers spent seven years with the EDFL in a tenure that included a number of significant achievements including, but not limited to, a substantial increase in umpiring numbers, establishing six umpiring academies across the EDFL region and increasing the participation numbers of female umpires across all umpiring disciplines.

His umpiring career in the VFL/AFL spanned across 21 seasons where Sawers umpired 410 games including the 1982, 1984, 1987 and 1990 Grand Finals as well as eight State-of-Origin games and two International Rules tours to Ireland.

Sawers was inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame in 2004.

The EDFL would like to extend its congratulations to Rowan on this outstanding achievement.

EDFL Partners