Umpires in the North Lindsey League, which involves teams from North Notts, North Lincs, West Lindsey and North East Lincs, award marks after every match for the sportsmanship of the teams. These are then totted up to decide the end-of-season winner of the Bert Hill Trophy.
But players from beyond the Scunthorpe area - of which there are now many - might be forgiven for wondering who Bert Hill was.
Well, he lived in Bottesford and was a senior umpire on the Scunthorpe and District panel, also making the match appointments for many years.
Whenever, and wherever, Bert umpired there were plenty of takers for the position of square leg - not usually a favourite. For Bert always carried a bag or two of sweets, with butterscotch a particular favourite. He was very generous with his 'goodies' while you were chatting away to him between deliveries.
Which was why, certainly in our club, he gained the nickname Butterscotch Bert.
One of the great characters of the game - and a very hard-worker behind the scenes for local cricket.
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