Ian Robinson (born 20 August 1946) is a former Australian rules football field umpire who officiated in the Victorian Football League (VFL). At the time of his retirement from umpiring in 1987, Robinson held the VFL/AFL record for most senior games officiated as a field umpire (353), of which nine were VFL Grand Finals, second only to Jack Elder. Throughout his career, and later as an umpiring coach and administrator, Robinson was a first-hand witness to some of Australian rules football's most memorable on-field incidents in one of the most tumultuous periods of the sport's history, and his achievements have been recognized with induction in both the Australian Football Hall of Fame and the AFL Umpires Association Hall of Fame. Umpiring career Robinson first joined the Umpiring Club at University High School when he was 15 and joined the VFL senior umpiring panel in 1969. In August 1970 Robinson made it onto the back pages of The Age when it was reported that he had fallen ill while umpiring the Reserves match between and at VFL Park. He had reported two players, and revealed that he was not feeling well at half time. After the match he was examined by the Melbourne and St Kilda club doctors before being taken to Allendale Private Hospital by ambulance. He was discharged the following day. Robinson made his senior VFL umpiring debut in Round 1 of the 1971 VFL season in the game between and at the MCG, which the Demons won comfortably by 105 points. Two years later, after umpiring in 18 matches during the home-and-away rounds of the 1973 VFL season, Robinson was selected to officiate his first VFL final - the Qualifying Final between arch-rivals and at the MCG, which Carlton won by 20 points. After also umpiring the First Semi-final which Carlton again won by 20 points, Robinson was selected to umpire the 1973 VFL Grand Final. Robinson umpired his third (and fourth) VFL Grand Final in 1977, this time in tandem with John Sutcliffe. In what became the second drawn Grand Final in VFL/AFL history, he reported Collingwood's Ray Shaw in the first quarter for deliberately striking North defender Ken Montgomery in the stomach with a clenched right fist; Shaw would be cleared to play in the Replay the following week. He was also the umpire who awarded the mark in the dying seconds of the game to