Peter Cameron is a former Australian rules football

Australian rules football

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

 field umpire

Umpire (Australian rules football)

An umpire is an official in the sport of Australian rules football.-Origins:Unlike many other codes of football, where the official is called a referee, in Australian Football, the officials borrow their title from the game of cricket, which is played on the same types of fields and was an...

, who umpired 306 matches between 1977 and 1993 in the Australian Football League

Australian Football League

The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

, including nineteen finals and three AFL Grand Final

AFL Grand Final

The AFL Grand Final is an annual Australian rules football match, traditionally held on the final Saturday in September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia to determine the Australian Football League premiership champions for that year...

 appearances. Since completing his umpiring career, he has continued to maintain a public presence through appearances in the E. J. Whitten Legends Game

E. J. Whitten Legends Game

The E. J. Whitten Legends Game is an annual charity Australian rules football All-star game, where retired star players are reunited, along with selected non-footballing celebrities, in a State of Origin interstate game, between Victoria and the All Stars .-History:E. J...

.

Umpiring career

Cameron began his umpiring career in 1977, the 279th field umpire to participate in VFL/AFL football. He quickly established a reputation as a fine umpire and practical joker, with one umpire remembering that he used to "cut the crotches out of our (underpants)." After just two years as an umpire, he received his first taste of the big time, being selected to officiate the night Grand Final between Collingwood and Hawthorn. It was another six years before he was appointed to his first day Grand Final, umpiring the Essendon-Hawthorn match of 1985. In all, Cameron officiated in three day Grand Finals (1985, 1986 and 1988) and four night Grand Finals (1979, 1981, 1985 and 1988). Cameron finally retired in 1993, aged 42.

During his career, Cameron also won the Bishop Shield, an award given to the AFL Umpires' Association's most outstanding field umpire for the year. He received this award in 1985.

Post umpiring

Cameron remained in the public eye due to his status as a long-serving umpire. He went on to work with a number of local football leagues in their umpiring departments, most notably and recently as Director of Umpires in the Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League. He has also appeared in several E.J. Whitten Legends Games, and has emerged as an outspoken critic of the bounce

Ball-up

A ball-up in Australian rules football describes a method of restarting play at a neutral contest after a stoppage within the field of play. It is not to be confused with a boundary throw-in which occurs in most cases when the ball is forced out of bounds...

in football.