By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
ANYONE who ever wanted to be in the middle of Melbourne Cricket Ground might find the pathway begins at Geelong Cricket Umpires Association.
The best part is the opportunity is open to anyone – male or female and regardless of whether they have played the game.
The chance to hone skills on the big stage is one of the incentives Geelong Cricket Umpires Association hopes will entice a few more to join its ranks.
An added enticement is $130 tax-free for standing around, raising the finger, signalling the odd four or six and maintaining the spirit of cricket.
Anyone who has watched the game, at the ground or on TV, and moaned about a DRS howler or figured an LBW was not-out because the ball was drifting down leg might find umpiring to their liking.
Geelong cricket is in dire need of umpires, with the ranks thinning as more players decide to play on longer in lower grades and work and family life become more demanding.
In fact, the situation is so dire only 20 umpires are on the books – not nearly enough to cover the games the association is slated to control.
Umpires association secretary Dean Wilson said almost 100 umpires were once registered but numbers had dwindled to 30 at most in the past the past seven years.
“I’ve been involved since 2006 and never we’ve had more than 30 umpires on our books and the last three years we were lucky to get 25,” Wilson said.
The growth of Geelong Cricket Association to a sixth and seventh grade competition might have exacerbated the shortage as players continued competing rather than retiring and moving on to umpiring, he said.
“We supply umpires to the firsts and seconds and often there’s only one umpire per game available. In fact, some games have not always had an umpire.
“We’d much prefer to have two umpires standing at all our games but it looks like there are going to be more and more games without an umpire this season unless we get a boost.”
Wilson said the association would need a membership of 72 to provide two umpires for all scheduled umpired games.
“We recognise the pressure on umpire numbers isn’t restricted to cricket, football and other sports have similar issues. Sports are trying to cope with this by umpiring themselves but that raises other issues, of independence and quality of umpiring.”
He explained the association provided support and training, with umpires advisor and former test umpire Bill Sheahan available.
More information about becoming a local cricket umpire is available at www.gcua.org.au.
