Kenneth Aplin (1918 – 25 February 2004) was a leading field umpire in the

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's sports governing body, governing body for the sport. ...

(SANFL) between 1939 and 1954. Aplin umpired 291 SANFL matches, including 10

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

s. He was the regular 'independent' umpire in the

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

versus

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

matches. Aplin was the SANFL umpires' coach between 1955 and 1957 and umpired in the

South Australian Amateur Football League The Adelaide Footy League (AdFL), formerly known as the South Australian Amateur Football League (SAAFL), is a semi-professional Australian rules football competition based in Adelaide, South Australia. Comprising sixty-seven member clubs play ...

(SAAFL). After retiring as an umpire, he was a football commentator on

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

radio for 18 years, and also a television football panellist. Aplin was inducted in the

Australian Football Hall of Fame The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996, the 1996 AFL season, centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Australian rules football by players, umpires, media pe ...

in 1996. On 16 January 2001, Aplin was awarded the

Australian Sports Medal The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, off ...

for service to the SANFL and Australian Football in South Australia.

References

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Australian Football Hall of Fame
Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees South Australian National Football League umpires Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal South Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees 1918 births 2004 deaths {{AFL-bio-1918-stub