Known as ‘Razor’ Ray due to his theatrical antics and in-your-face discussions with players, Chamberlain’s umpiring career could easily be over after a horror night in Adelaide during the Hawks’ 12-point win.
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The incident all started in the shadows of three-quarter time as Luke Breust took possession deep in Hawthorn’s forward pocket and started running along the boundary towards the point post.
But as the forward worked himself into a position to kick his 30th consecutive goal – a mark that would have surpassed Tony Lockett’s previous record of 29 from 1995 – Chamberlain blew the whistle for the end of the quarter.
The problem was, the siren was still 14 seconds away.
“I don’t think it’s gone, Ray,” said Chamberlain’s fellow umpire, to which Razor took a deep breath and simply replied: “Holy Gees!”
Chamberlain was forced to throw the ball up and the Hawks subsequently couldn’t fashion another goalscoring chance as the siren blew to end the term.
But to make matters worse, Chamberlain then went to Hawthorn’s Sam Mitchell to explain what happened.
“We get this retarded chime that runs through here,” was what Chamberlain seemed to say to Mitchell as he pointed at his ear piece. The audio from this conversation isn’t completely clear, but there doesn’t seem much doubt he made a terribly politically incorrect and insensitive comment.
“It’s meant to go simultaneous with the siren, right. I heard that go in my ear, that’s why I blew it. A second later, what happens ...”
“But why do we have to pay the price?” asked Mitchell.
Chamberlain, in return produced a smart arse response: “They’re the rules mate. I didn’t write the book, I just read it.”
Fortunately for the umpire, the mistake didn’t influence the result and to be fair, Breust would have been in a difficult position had he attempted to go for goal. But the fact Breust missed an attempt at that record 30th consecutive goal in the final quarter highlighted what might have been.
“I think Breusty thought he might have to dodge Ray Chamberlain as well,” said Hawthorn coach Clarkson after the game.
“They’ll work it out the AFL. It’s a shame because this is a great venue and we’ve had two situations this year where there’s been a bit of controversy over the siren.
“But there’s two seconds to go, it didn’t really have a huge influence on the game.
“Breusty still had to get past one or two opponents anyway to get through, he could have nearly been done for holding the ball anyway. It doesn’t matter too much.”
Chamberlain’s gaffe is just the latest in a long line of siren issues at the new Adelaide Oval.
Due to the sound levels at the redeveloped venue, the umpires couldn’t hear the siren during the clash between Port Adelaide and Geelong in April and also famously during Adelaide’s win over Collingwood in May when Josh Jenkins kicked a goal after the three-quarter time siren.
The ear chimes, though, were introduced so umpires would be able to hear the siren despite the noise at the generally packed out venue.