Chelsea Roffey

Chelsea Roffey was the first woman umpire to officiate an AFL Grand Final. However, she is more than just an umpire. A journalist by trade, Roffey speaks on themes of leadership, diversity & inclusion, equality and culture. Roffey is an engaging & insightful speaker who will share her story of breaking barriers. Roffey would be a great addition to your event as a panel member, keynote speaker, or workshop facilitator!

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

• First woman to umpire an AFL Grand Final (2012)
• 295 games, 16 finals, emergency grand final umpire 2010, 2011, 2014, 2016
• Winston Churchill Fellow 2014 (Gender equality, diversity and inclusion, storytelling)
• Named in The Age's 100 Most Influential People (2012)
• Sports Official of the Year - Queensland and Victoria (2012)
• Forums attended: UN Commission on the Status of Women; APEC Women's Leadership Conference (invited guest)
• Bachelor of Journalism (QUT)
• Bachelor of Music (Queensland Conservatorium) - Academic Scholarship

HER STORY

Chelsea Roffey is a speaker, author, Churchill Fellow and the first and only woman to have officiated in an Australian Football League Grand Final. 

Born in Wallaroo on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula, the self-confessed Aussie rules tragic moved to Queensland as a girl with her parents and two younger brothers. She learnt the skills of goal umpiring while studying under full academic scholarship for a Bachelor of Music (clarinet) at the Queensland Conservatorium, and later biomedical science at Griffith University. A switch to journalism coincided with her appointment to the AFL panel in 2004, after five years umpiring locally in Brisbane. Chelsea reached the pinnacle of her craft in 2012 when she was selected to umpire the AFL Grand Final. 

Chelsea’s highlights reel includes more than 295 AFL games, 16 finals, five AFL Grand Final emergency appearances, umpiring in London and Shanghai, and executing a textbook hip-and-shoulder on Melbourne’s Oscar McDonald.

A crowd favourite, she’s appeared on panels for Eddie McGuire Tonight, AFL360, The Front Bar and The Beep Test, as well as being a regular spokesperson for TV and radio. She has shared the stage with some of the biggest names in Australian sport.

Her media experience spans roles in newsrooms, communications, features editing, writing, producing, presenting and hosting. Chelsea has interviewed high profile athletes and celebrities, from footballers, Olympians, world champions and elite coaches, to actors, film producers and world-renowned musicians.

She is in high demand as a speaker, combining insight from her unique narrative with the science and literature, helping to drive diverse performance, from the boardroom to the basketball court.

A published author and Winston Churchill Fellow, Chelsea has travelled the globe examining diversity, gender equality and storytelling. She has been named Sports Official of the Year in Victoria and Queensland, listed among The Age newspaper's top 100 most influential people, been an invited guest of APEC’s Women’s Leadership Forum in Beijing, and attended the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York.