Frank Vergona is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

field umpire, most notable for his career in the Victorian Football Association in the 1970s and 1980s. Vergona began umpiring Australian rules football in Melbourne's suburban leagues during the mid-1960s. In the early 1970s, he umpired in the Victorian Football League reserves grade, and then in 1973 switched to the Victorian Football Association. A fringe umpire during most of the 1970s, Vergona spent much of his time in the reserves until securing a regular senior position in 1980. Easily recognisable due to his short stature (5'3"), tight shorts and oiled legs and noted for his bold umpiring personality, Vergona soon become a popular cult figure in the VFA; and he is often considered alongside many of the VFA's great players as one of the personalities synonymous with the popular and marketable era enjoyed by the VFA during the 1970s. Well respected as an umpire, through his career he umpired in six Grand Finals: the

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

and

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

Division 1 Grand Finals, and the

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

and

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

Division 2 Grand Finals. He umpired a total of just over 250 VFA games over a seventeen-year stretch between 1973 and 1989, retiring after the VFA's umpires board came under the direction of the VFL. Outside umpiring, Vergona earned his living as a teacher at Dandenong High School as well as some of Geelong and Melbourne's top private schools, best known as a long-serving Latin teacher at Xavier College Kew and Melbourne Grammar School.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vergona, Frank Victorian Football Association umpires Living people Year of birth missing (living people)