Sally Deegan, on behalf of Lincolnshire Associations of Cricket Officials, has sent this appeal to cricket clubs across the county
For
many years we have enjoyed the pleasure of regularly having two umpires standing
in the majority of fixtures throughout our region; however Lincolnshire Cricket
is now struggling to fulfil half of the fixtures with two umpires.
99.9%
of all Lincolnshire Cricket matches are officiated by volunteers from our
region, those of you who are avid fans of the game, retiring players or those
who are passionate about sustaining grassroots cricket. All the Officials
Associations in Lincolnshire
Each
season there is an increase in the number of matches requesting the services of
qualified umpires yet there is not the same increase in volunteers stepping
forward to gain law knowledge, application experience and qualifications.
To put
it into figures, in one league 213 matches have been played so far, 88 have had
only one standing umpire. This is a staggering 41%.
As this figure
gradually increases year-on-year we can expect to see it rise to more than 50%
of games without two umpires, in fact we may even see some divisions without
umpires at all and having to resort to players taking the coat which is
something we wish to avoid.
Finally,
let me make this clear. If more volunteers do not come forward then it will
become impossible to appoint umpires to matches and meet the needs of leagues
and clubs.
I know couple that be interested but having to give up nights/days for length of time have put those off.
ReplyDeleteCant be that short, ive been a qualified umpire for 3 years now and Ive still not been added to the umpires list.
ReplyDeleteIf a shorter umpiring course could be done etc i would be interested for 2014
ReplyDeleteGood to see some interest. Anonymous' comments about the length of the training course have been noted. Is he/she suggesting that if the training could be reduced in terms of weeks, then more people might take up umpiring? Point worth considering, if that's the case.
ReplyDelete