Umpire/Coach, NTFUA, 1929-1967
> Estimated to have umpired 500 games of senior, junior and school football
> Umpired many intrastate games between TFL and NTFA, including the 100th such game in 1945
> Coached NTFUA, 1961-67
> NTFUA life member, 1951
> Inaugural NTFUA ‘Legend’, 2000
Ernie Mathews gave a lifetime of dedicated and high quality service to football as an umpire and coach in Northern Tasmania. The recess in football brought about by the Second World War punctuated his time at the top. Mathews began his service with the Northern Tasmanian Football umpire Association (NTFUA) in 1929 as a 19-year-old. In a time when Tasmanian umpires did not have the opportunity to umpire TFL, NTFA or NWFU grand finals, Mathews’ peers in Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia considered him the ‘king of Tasmanian umpires’. Highlights of Mathews’ umpiring career include officiating the North versus South intrastate grudge matches for which he was first choice umpire.
