I wish to draw your
attention to the current plight of umpiring throughout Lincolnshire. Fewer and
fewer volunteers are coming forward to umpire in the leagues and this is leaving
us very short as we have less umpires to choose from and generally each season
there is an increase in the number of matches requesting the services of a
qualified umpire.
So far, David Chambers has
appointed umpires to 213
matches in the South Lincs &
Border league of
which 88 matches have had only 1 standing umpire, a
staggering 41%.
The future doesn’t look any brighter
as very
few names are forthcoming to
attend courses and enlist on the panel. So I ask for your help.
Please spread
the word around your clubs. If we have anyone interested in attending a course
then please pass their details to myself and I will contact them personally. It
would also be helpful to understand why so few are coming through. Could it be
too much travel, not enough expenses, player abuse, etc, that puts people off. I
am interested to hear any views that may help try to improve the
situation.
Finally, let me make this clear.
If we do not have more volunteers coming forward then it will be impossible to
appoint umpires to all matches. So far we’ve managed to have 2 umpires in every
SLBL Premier league match and we aim to keep this going, but the lower divisions
may find themselves without umpires and having to resort to players taking the
coat, which is clearly something we wish to avoid.
Email bryan.smith@vodafone.com
NIGEL FISHER ADDS: This topic was raised at last week's mid-season meeting of the Lincolnshire County Cricket League in Market Rasen. In addition to lack of numbers on the Lincoln and District panel (detailed above) we are also in need of "new blood" within the ranks of the Scunthorpe and Grimsby associations. If you are interested in becoming an umpire in the Scunthorpe area, please email me through this link scoopfisher@aol.com
If you live in the Grimsby area, contact Gordon Turner g-turner@hotmail.co.uk
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