Men in White Coats
Written by: Damith Samarakoon
(4 votes, average: 3.75 out of 5)
Loading ...Umpiring is widely accepted as one of the toughest jobs in sport. With wave after wave of fans/ex-players/commentators increasingly asking for more technology to be brought into the game it doesn’t get any easier. Umpires are a strange breed, because unlike players they do not gain the accolades and the records and the media that the players crave and play for, and yet they sweat it out over 5 days. The money handed to an “elite” umpire at the end of the game is a joke- it’s close to what a FC cricketer makes (When you compare that with what some of the players make these days it’s absolutely nothing.).
Reading what the umpire needs
So it’s important to know what motivates an umpire to take up the role in the first place. Many umpires who have been offered the role to umpire in the elite panel have declined- eg: Peter Willey. Why? Because many do not want the demanding traveling, the public slandering of their name and the constant heckling.
Regardless of whether Darrel Hair was right or wrong in the decisions he has made- how can an upcoming umpire feel that the working environment is a safe one when looking at how hair was treated by the ICC?
Everyone expects an impossible perfection from these men who, it seems, does an unforgiving job for peanuts. Hence its not too far fetched to believe the lack of quality umpires in today’s game is due to the unattractive nature of the job it self. Once respected and held of high esteem, umpires have been reduced to escape-goats and ridiculed the world over.
Umpiring Standards
When the men in white coats make makes mistakes, what happens? Usually nothing.
Today’s umpiring “standards” are lacking an essential quality-Standards. Umpire popularity seems to be an all time low in the modern game. They are endlessly scrutinized and criticized over the decisions they make. Unsurprisingly, the ICC seems to be the root cause behind this problem as well.
When the cricket boards around the world were screaming in unison for neutral umpires to be officiating in test matches the ICC hurriedly got the “Elite Panel” together. And promptly took the credit for a “reform” in the way test matches were umpired.
The current panel includes
- # Aleem Dar (39 years)
# Asad Rauf (51 years)
# Mark Benson (49 years)
# Brent Bowden (44 years)
# Steve Bucknor (61 years)
# Billy Doctrove (52 years)
# Darrell Hair-Banned from officiating in ICC sanctioned matches.
# Daryl Harper (56 years)
# Rudi Koertzen (58 years)
# Simon Taufe (36 years)
Draw your attention to the ages of these elite umpires. Some are way past their retirement age in most countries.
Is it too much of a hypothesis to believe that umpiring performances will degrade as the years roll on? It is definitely the case with players. A batsmen’s reaction time becomes slower. A bowlers pace drops. Fielding becomes increasingly difficult. Most players are lucky if they get to around the avg retirement age of 36-38. In fact it’s become an increasing trend around the world that cricket boards will target these 35+ players and look for younger replacements.
Umpires should be treated the same.
Retirement age for umpires ?
A system where umpires are only allowed to umpire up to a certain age would rectify this. Looking at the past 2 years the mistakes made appear to be by the umpires putting on in age. Namely Rudi and Bucknor. Could anyone really blame them if the age is one of the factors that has led to some of the decisions being made?
My proposal is that the umpires should retire at age 50.
And utilize the Emirates International Panel of Umpires to groom upcoming umpires and to promote them when a certain umpire is nearing the age of 50
The composition of the elite panel is reviewed every year and a new panel is announced every 1st of April (Funny they should pick that date huh?). This is definitely a good move but the ICC must be strict on their policy. The performance of Rudi Koertzen and Steve Bucknor does not warrant their inclusion in the panel over the years, at least not in the last two.
Venkat and Shepperd: Great umpires in their prime
David Sheperd retired when he was 65. A great umpire in his “youth†but cracks were definitely appearing in the latter part of his career. Venkat retired at 59 and although he was much respected, he also fell away in the latter part of his career.
So, an umpires careerneed to be handled by the ICC just like a player career is handled/managed by the respective boards. There are great umpires out there and the ICC must be pro-active in bringing these umpires to the biggest stage in cricket. They must also create an environment where an individual would want to take up umpiring- pay/ support/ training will all play a part in this.
Let’s face it; Umpiring is not the most fanciful job in the world. They are not in it to make a bundle and call it quits when their pockets are full. What every umpire strives for, or should be striving for, is to gain the respect of the players for their integrity and their decision making capabilities.
If the ICC is able to provide what an umpire needs from the beginning of their careers and manage their careers once they make it to the elite panel the standards will definitely improve. If technology will help improve their standards then let’s see how we can implement it. If more money is needed to entice more ex-players and FC umpires to take up and and continue umpiring in the highest level then let’s spend it.
By supporting the tangible and intangible needs of the umpire from beginning to end we can ensure the qualities of the umpires are improved which eventually leads to better decisions being made in the matches.
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12 Responses to “Men in White Coats”
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Damith great article, but I just wanted to know how do I become a blogger for lankancricket.com as I think it’ll benefit my aspirations to be involved in the media..
Thank you
Firstly, nicely written Damith. Pinned.
Mostly I agree with what you’ve got to say here. Of course the umpiring standards have decreased over the years, but I refuse to believe age is a prime factor in this. Until the very last moments, the likes of Dicky Bird, Venkat and Sheperd were very good umpires and were hugely respected all over the world by players / fans alike. Because they did their job well.
Second, money may also be a decisive factor yet again it’s not the prime. I mean lot of these umpires did not take their jobs purely as a profession. It was more a case of love for the game and wanting to involve in the game in someway. So I doubt that even handing them big cheques would solve the problem.
As I see, the main problem lies in the fact that the game has become more ‘professional’ over the years and everyone wants correct decisions made. Add to that the fact that more technology is available to fans / commentators and they can spot umpiring errors made. I think bad decisions were made even those early days, yet nobody was able to say for sure they were blunders. Today, instantly people see when umpires make mistakes.
Plus, in a recent article in cricinfo I saw that an elite panel umpire who wished to stay unnamed has expressed his thoughts that they actually want technology be available to them so that they can make better decisions.
He has said :
“When I”m umpiring in India or Australia in front of crowds like 70, 80 thousand people, I do not hear faint nicks!”
So, if even the umpires do want technology be involved, and if we got reasonably accurate equipment, why not use it for the betterment of the game?
good article. you surely have great skils in english writings.
great article bro,
yes i do feel that umpires need to retire in the right age. this is taking too much and we need more umpires age in 30 not ones in 50, usually when some is aged up chances where mistakes happens is there, so more opportunities and young blood needs to be inputed, i think thats the way to do it? technology is playing its part all ready, too much is not good, so lets technology go at its own pace, where we try to uplift the human skills
very nice damith
very true bro
that these umps are past thier age like bucner dude like 65 damm he needs to go
rudy needs to get his hearing check often too
Great one Damith.
I dont know if it’s just me, but I feel there are so many bad decisions going around recently.. maybe because we had many back to back series.. But couple of days ago even the 3rd umpire in the Aus-IND 2nd test made a blunder off a stumping (or did I miss something?).. afterall, umpires are human too (not the 3rd umpire).. ICC just need to make provisions to involve more technology imo.. Like you point out man, the elite panel needs to get a facelift… Thanks for the article bro…
ammat hudu,
dhamithta giya kala! dude you should send these articles for publication in the Dailynews, dailymirror sports section. If you don’t have the email addresses I’ll PM them to you.
great stuff damith…very true what u hav said…
and plus the way things are heading atm in Sydney lol i believe we might need to ask shepard to come out of retirement lol
Great article there Damith. It’s interesting how old these umpires are. A young umpire wouldn’t have much difficulty with hearing or observation i reckon.
Thanks everyone for the comments, and after the the SCG fiasco, it has become increasingly clear that the umpires need to reviewed and dropped from the Elite Panel. Bucknor did his job but he has lost it big time. Benson performance was questionable. A total revamp of the panel is required atm.
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Well written, Damith.
Use of more and more technology is worth it and lessen the burden on on-field umpires. Some will say the game will get purely mechanical. What matters at the end of the day is the correct verdict (or minimise the errors). Umpires should not have any qualms that they are becoming ‘Robots’.They still have valuable functions to perform in the game such as deciding on the weather and light conditions, pitch and ground conditions, state of the ball, discilining the players etc.