Page 51 - SAFFER 07

Inge

that this was ‘their way of playing’ and I should stop thinking
about interfering or involving the captain. I didn’t as to me it
wasn’t cricket and it shouldn’t happen. I ended up talking to the
captain and that was only seen as a red flag, as they had clearly
seen that I would get no support in this from my colleague, and
their ‘go to’ comment after that was something on the lines of
not being allowed to play their cricket, implying discrimination
or prejudice. A year after the match, the home captain talked
to me about that match and told me ‘I had been hung out to
dry’ by my colleague, who at the time was umpiring at Minor
County level. So having the ability and experience to recognise
a situation for what it is, doesn’t always mean treating it as such
is the way to go: in cricket, as in hockey, you need some sort of
balance and consistency between the on field umpires to deal
not only by the match manager but also by the manager of the with players who decide to flaunt the rules of the game. Espe-
home team. My advice was taken to heart, Jack got substituted cially when you are considered the junior umpire.
and talked to and came back to have one of his best perfor-
mances I’d seen so far. Even if ‘my’ team lost. Yes, I completely Being the senior umpire but not being recognised as such, is
agree that this approach is tricky, but when you get feedback something else though! We end on a more humorous note,
from the opposition and the match manager that this was actu- therefor. A ‘century ago’, the Dutch umpiring committee had
ally quite a good way of handling this situation, plus I get a clear decided that umpires who were identified as promotable, would
‘thank you’ from the captain and the team manager, I know that umpire with an experienced colleague from the higher league
I’ve managed to ‘pitch’ my umpiring at the right level and done three times; once in the lower league, in order for the two to get
a good job. I also know that 30 years ago, when I was umpiring used to each other - style of umpiring, communication, etc – at
the top hockey leagues in Netherlands, I might have been tech- the level the ‘new guy’ was used to umpiring, and the first two
nically able to do this but certainly didn’t have the experience matches of the ‘new guy’ at the higher level. Or something sim-
and trust from players and managers to get away with things ilar. One of the umpires used for this purpose is a guy who is
like that. regarded as one of the best international hockey umpires of that
era. Let’s call him Bill. After the first match, the two umpires do
Gaining the confidence to think outside the box and play with the normal debrief with the two captains. On the matter of Bill’s
the wording of regulations rather than umpire to the letter of performance, he gets the clear advice that ‘some more work is
them, however, is something that is also something of a riddle. required, but he’ll get there at this level’. Whereupon Bill comes
Sometimes using that higher standard knowledge of the game back with ‘great, thanks for that, I’ll try that next week when
to assess situations and help play move on in lower competition, I’m umpiring the Champions Trophy in India’. I only heard this
or address players in order to tell them that you have seen them story, but it did really happen, and I can assure you, I would
flouting regulations but you don’t want to interfere yet, is not have loved seeing the reaction of the captains!
recognised as such or even seen as a challenge to push you. Two
different examples. One from cricket, one from hockey. First The main aim of the game is to learn, reflect, talk to your mates
one me, second one not me. and adapt! See you next time!

Cricket first. On a ground where the rain of the last 48 hours
has clearly had some effect, the pitch is damp but playable. The
away captain wins the toss and decides to bat first. I never knew
why but that’s neither here nor there. The match is shorter than
the official 50 overs a side (I think it was 35), and the away
team post a disappointing total. As the pitch is drying, the team
batting second will still have a job to do but the total to beat is
generally perceived as too low. It was the first time I umpired
the away team but knowing cricket, I expected that we would
get a lot of appeals or see other behaviour intent on making
the batsmen not reach that target. And we did. The moment a
batsman got a bit settled, one of the youngest members of the
fielding team, fielding at first or second slip, would move in
front, eyeballing the batsman, or be vocal in order to try and
intimidate or distract them. As soon as I became aware of this,
I tried interacting with him, making him aware that I knew
exactly what I was doing but wasn’t going to go through his
captain. He just blanked me and merrily continued what he
was doing. I then went to my colleague to discuss the next step
and found that my colleague had come to the same interpreta-
tion of what was happening. Unfortunately for me, he told me

51 |