Volunteer referee recovering after collapsing in first grade fixture

Well-known Parkes identity Greg Phillips suffered a suspected heart attack during the first half of the annual long weekend derby fixture between the Spacemen and Forbes and was transported from the ground via an ambulance.

Parkes Spacemen president Tony Dwyer confirmed Phillips was due to be home on Monday morning after the scary incident which silenced an otherwise raucous derby crowd.

"He's been helping out the club forever. He's been a ground manager and things like that," Dwyer said.

"He's helped out a lot before. He's just one of those blokes you don't want to lose."

The Spacemen also provided an update on Phillips' health on social media.

"Hearing Greg Phillips is in good spirits and hoping to be home from hospital soon," the post read on Monday morning.

"Everyone at the club, and its fans wish you all the best in your recovery and can't wait to have you back up at Pioneer soon, mate."

Phillips has had heart trouble in the past and has an in-built defibrillator. It kicked virtually as he hit the ground at Pioneer Oval.

The first grade game was stopped for roughly half an hour and visitors Forbes went on to win the match 22-18 after it restarted.

Dwyer joked Phillips wouldn't be holding up a whistle or clipboard at the ground any time soon, and would instead be left to hold a bucket of hot chips instead.

Phillips is well known in Parkes and won the town's referee, umpire or official of the year award in 2023.

He was only called on to help officiate Sunday's games late last week after the region's referees announced last Thursday, June 6, they were going on strike.

The Group 11 and Group 10 referees' associations issued a joint statement last week, stating they had "grown tired of accepting abuse as the norm".

That had put Sunday's fixtures at Parkes in doubt but replacement referees from outside the western area officiated the games while locals, club members and former referees helped run the sideline.

Dwyer, a former referee who officiated a number of grand finals in the 1990s, was shocked by the strike announcement.

"It was just a shame," he said.

"I've been a referee and I've never seen anything like it. Strike action, that's your last resort.

"I know there has been a couple of issues but usually you can get on top of those and usually it's all done in-house.

"I don't know whether they've gone a bit too far."

The strike announcement came after an investigation into a reserve grade game between Wellington and Forbes earlier this season which was abandoned at half-time.

Referee Phil Lindley didn't return for the second half, citing comments directed towards him from both sets of players.

Following the investigation, no major punishments were handed down outside of concerning act notices, and the referees stated they were "let down terribly" after what they considered "inadequate and weak" penalties.

From a club point of view, Dwyer was hopeful things could be sorted sooner rather than later.

He and the Spacemen feared the annual derby fixtures weren't going to be played at one stage late last week and that would have been a huge blow given the long weekend games are the club's best crowd and best money-earner each season.

"It's not as if the clubs have got heaps of volunteers putting their hand up to do all the jobs," he said.

"Everyone struggles with what they've got and how many people they got involved in the club. It makes it difficult.

"You do your best and yesterday (Sunday) was a massive crowd. Luckily we had the same few blokes there and a lot of the old boys came onboard and helped out."