Meet hockey umpire Steve Rogers, QSport's Konica Minolta 2024 Queensland Sport Official of the Year Award Winner

This Steve Rogers may not be Captain America, but in the world of hockey, he is a marvel.

The 46-year-old international umpire has always been drawn to the sport, and the past two years have seen him take a meteoric rise as an official.

After getting the call-up for the World Cup in India in 2023, he took charge of the Men’s Gold Medal match at the Paris Olympic Games, before being named the FIH Umpire of the Year for 2024.

Steve capped that off by taking out the QSport Konica Minolta 2024 Queensland Sport Official of the Year Award.

“I feel privileged to be able to do it at any level. If I get to umpire an Under 13 game, it’s still the same feeling to walking out at the Olympic Final,” Steve said.

“It’s still the same feeling that drives me to be my best for the brand of hockey and make the game a better spectacle.”

Steve was 12 years old when he got into umpiring.

“My brother was an umpire in Ipswich many years ago and an umpire didn’t show up so he asked me to jump on the other end and I never looked back.”

And while most kids dream of playing in the big time, Steve had ambitions to officiate at the highest level.

“I think even as a 12-year-old, I remember sitting in my room blowing a whistle. And it was one of those terrible old pea whistles.

“It used to give mum and dad hell because I’d be blowing it and making out that I was on the international stage.”

Those dreams became reality, and Steve now has 90 international caps.

He made his World Cup debut in India, with the hosts taking on Spain in front of more than 20,000 passionate fans in Rourkela.

“Umpiring the World Cup was something special. It is the pinnacle of hockey. It was something amazing and something that I had always looked forward to.”

At the Paris Olympics, Steve was having coffee with friends in Montmartre when he received the call-up to umpire the Gold Medal match between the Netherlands and Germany.

“There were goosebumps. I think I had tears. I couldn’t even ring my wife and my kids because they were in transit.

“Meeting in the middle of the field and then watching the teams run out was something special. It’s one of those things that burns into your mind. It’s unbelievable.”

Steve says getting to the Olympics is just as momentous for the officials as it is for the athletes.

“We do work hard. We did 18 months of training prior to the Olympics where we had to submit fitness tests and sprint tests and we had to make sure we were that right look before we got there.

“It was a lot of stress on us and obviously our families as well.”

Queensland has produced some of the greatest hockey players in the world, but Hockey Queensland CEO Alison Lyons says Steve’s rise has been just as important.

“We’re really proud of Steve and having watched his development over years leading up to the World Cup and the Olympics was phenomenal just seeing him go from strength to strength,” Alison said.

“I think heroes in all aspects of sport are really important. Having people like Steve showing that you can excel on the world stage in this space, young kids would definitely be inspired to pick up a whistle.

“I think Queensland has always had a very strong development system for our umpires. We have some incredible mentors and we have an alumni of international umpires that help our umpires coming through the system.”

And Steve is playing his part.

He is guiding the next generation when he can, to give something back to the sport in Queensland.

“The game doesn’t happen without officials, at every level. It is critical that we get more umpires in,” Steve said.

“It’s kind of dying off at the moment and I’m not too sure why. But we do need a bit of a drive to get more kids in.

“I try and mentor. I’m a director here in Brisbane and we do a lot of mentoring.”

Steve only has two more years left of umpiring at international level, aiming to reach 100 caps before he has to hang up the whistle.

There’s no doubt the sport has been good to him, and he would love to see more Queensland kids follow in his footsteps.

“Have a go. It is fun. You get to meet some pretty amazing people. The travel that we get as umpires is pretty cool as well. Every game needs umpires, so why not have a go.”

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