By Russell Bennett
If the saying rings true that you only get out of something what you put in, then Bruce Pratt can look forward to a lifetime of rewards from footy.
On Saturday on a cold morning at Lang Lang, Bruce walked out on to a footy field for the 800th time as either a player or an umpire.
It’s a journey that, for him, started way back in 1969 as a nine-year-old in the Under 16s for his beloved Ellinbank.
His 415th and last game as a player came in June 2013, just days before he gave his son Michael the ultimate gift – the kidney he needed to survive.
Then 54, Bruce called time on his playing career, but his games’ tally was already nudging 700 thanks to his commitment as an umpire.
But his incredible games’ tally doesn’t even take into account his years as a junior coach. All told, he’s headed towards the magical 1000-game milestone.
“When I was 49, I said if I could get to 50 I’d be happy and then every year after that’s a bonus,” he said of his umpiring career for the Gippsland Umpires Association (GUA).
“I’ve had nine years of bonuses already!
“I’m 59 next year. I can wave the flags as a goal umpire, but I like to be out amongst it with the guys as field umpire.”
Bruce describes his umpiring as his outlet away from his 150-acre farm – the same Ellinbank property he’s been on for the past 33 years.
“If something happens at the farm on a Saturday I’ll still care, but I’ll worry about it when I get home at the end of the day.”
His proudest moment in footy is simply being one of the more than two dozen members of the Pratt family to have donned the Bankers colours.
It’s something Michael can also lay claim to.
Three years before the transplant operation, medical tests uncovered that he only had one kidney. It was a piece of news that changed Bruce’s whole perspective on footy, and potentially appreciate his involvement in it even more.
He’s been involved in footy every year since he was 12, except for the 1983 season when he was in America working. That year, of course, Ellinbank won the seniors, reserves, and thirds premierships!
Bruce has experienced his share of premiership glory along the way, but it’s never been what’s driven him.
“From an umpiring point of view, I never thought at the age of 40 when I joined that I’d ever get to the stage of being a senior field umpire in a grand final,” he said, looking back.
“I thought if I umpired one or two hundred over 10 years I’d be happy, but this is my 20th year.
“I’m thankful to think that, knowing there were so many guys ahead of me over the years, that I’d be up in that top bracket just by persevering. The top three umpires were doing the Gippsland League grand final that day in 2011, but I was in the next tier and I was good enough to get the job.
“Look, the footy club and the umpires don’t owe me anything. It’s just a case of giving a little and taking a little. You really only get out what you put in, and that’s what being a Pratt is all about. It’s genetic.”
