gary fila born 18 november 1981 is australian rules football field umpire in the australian football league prior to joining the senior list he umpired in the south australian national football league and officiated in both the 2005 and 2006 sanfl grand finals he made his afl dbut on 30 june 2007 in a match between fremantle and carlton at subiaco ovalat the end of the 2008 afl season fila was delisted from the afl panel after 16 matches however he spent 2009 and 2010 working hard to improve in the sanfl in a bid to remake the afl his effort was rewarded when he umpired the 2010 sanfl grand final alongside richard williams 11th grand final and leigh haussen who was making his grand final debut he also won south australias most prestigious umpiring honour that year the golden whistle ranking him as the best field umpire in the statefila subsequently retrialed for the afl and was rewarded with a rookie spot whilst this was a step in the right direction it meant he had to have another successful year at sanfl level he did so umpiring his 4th sanfl grand final in 2011 alongside colin rowston 2nd and haussen 2nd at the start of 2012 fila was offered a senior spot on the afl list and had a successful return season umpiring 20 matches 1at the beginning of february 2014 gary fila was appointed as the new afl queensland state umpire manager in his new role fila will oversee the development of the states neafl and qafl umpires with the view to giving them the best possible chance of making the afl ranks as well as ensuring there is a clear pathway through community football to elite umpiringthe former sanfl umpire replaces cameron nash who has become the afl victoria umpires managerlast season fila volunteered his time assisting the sanfl umpiring department with recruitment campaigns liaising with schools to entice more young people to pick up the whistleoriginally planning to head back to the sanfl and strive towards umpiring his 200th sanfl game he opted to instead head down the coaching path in 2014fila will draw on his experiences mentoring and developing umpires in the sanfl as he takes on the role of coaching queenslands top flight officialsonly giving up umpiring at the end of last season mr fila has a strong understanding of the demands on high level umpires and will take an active role in training and drills throughout the yearafl queensland ceo michael conlan said he was delighted with the appointmentgary is a great addition to the umpiring department here in queensland he said given his extensive experience within a high performance environment with the sanfl and the afl he is fully aware of what it takes to get to the top and will be able to instil that into our neafl and qafl umpiring grouphis background in his nonumpiring portfolio in business development will be beneficial in leading our umpiring department