Tuesday, February 12, 2008

A rant about Umpiring

A growing number of comments are being submitted about umpiring and so on. I've written before that I will not allow comments on this topic and so I think I should outline my reasons for this decision.

Basically, as Leinster hockey as a whole, we are responsible for the vicious circle that exists around umpiring. Players, including many of our internationals, spend their time on the pitch being abusive toward umpires thus making the job more unattractive. As such, people who may be quite talented are less likely to take up the role. One top umpire in Leinster has given up in recent years due to the thankless nature of the job.

Furthermore, it is our responsibility as club members to help improve the game if we want it to flourish. This includes umpiring. The IHA is running a number of youth leaders workshops that include an umpiring module. The only male club to send a representative along? Glenanne...


The fact that they produce top umpires who regularly officiate at top international tournaments shows what can be done if a club takes responsibility.

Not only is there nothing more boring in the bar afterwards than a moan about a decision, complaining only accentuates the problem. If you feel passionately about it, do something positive. Buy a rulebook, learn the rules, volunteer down at your club or get in contact with Leinster Umpires Association.

The benefits can be seen in the fact that Ray O'Connor is one of Ireland's most celebrated Olympians, Martin Caniffe is off to Europe at Easter with Glenanne as a judge while Tom Good regularly does top indoor hockey tournaments where they get to see top hockey from the closest possible vantage point.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

well said!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I agree. There are so many people who do nothing but shout at umpires when they are on the pitch but if they are ever aked to do a match themselves they claim they 'dont know the rules'. If they have that much of a problem with it do something about it or shut-up

Anonymous said...

the problem i have with umpires is that each umpire is from a club, so why do they continue to let them umpire games that involve their home club...........

For example, last weekend Cauldwell and Moose ( two CHC men) umpired the pembroke Vs CHC match, and Bolger ( a glens man) umpired the glenanne Vs YM game along with andrew groves. What i dont understand is why bolger and groves couldn't have umpired the CHC Vs Pembroke game, and Cauldwell and Moose umpire the glens game........................... It would seem fairly obvious to me that this could easily have been avoided........

Dont get me wrong im not saying umpires are bias but by not having umpires umpiring games involving their own clubs would leave no room for error, and nobody would blame results unfairly on bias umpires.

Anonymous said...

i agree with the last point, i think umpires do a good job and its harsh to blame them as they are humans and do makes mistakes.

however the selection of umpires is not well thought out or their level of involvement in a club

e.g two years ago bolger umpires IJC semi pwhc versus annadale...fine no probs but then plays for the glens in the final of that tournament...now thats not ethically right and that sort of stuff has to stop!

Jason said...

Well because it is an amateur sport (especially at Div3) there shouldn't be a problem. Bolger is a tallented umpire and that semi IJC was going to be a tough game so who better to get a chance to umpire it... There is competition to ump games too you know!

If you regularly umpire and are competent, you then get a shot at the big games.

It's hard enough to get umpires, but to then say he shouldn't ump because he plays for X in Y competition etc. would be a step too far.

In that particular case I'm guessing you would have technically ended up with a less competent ump because you would have to go down the pecking order.

With relation to the two CHC men and glens man, maybe it was a matter of convenience and time pressure for those locations. Better to have an ump than not have an ump because you can't accommodate them. They have lives to live on a Saturday too I'm guessing (family, playing hockey matches, watching United lose!).

Maybe you should take up umpiring to help them out? All in favour say 'aye'!

Anonymous said...

I understand the point about umpires and their clubs but both Glennane and CHC supply 3 umpires each to the Leinster league. Glennane: O'Connor, Bolger x2, CHC: Caulwell, Moose, Conn. Correct me if im wrong but i would say thats more than any other club. Therefore avoiding situations as mentioned above is difficult sometimes impossible. The branch can only work with the umpires available to them.

Anonymous said...

Tom Good also has a Glens background. It shows the two clubs commitment to supplying umpires while few other clubs have produced umpires.

Anonymous said...

what people have to understand is any ambitious umpire always wants to do top games...this would involve Glenanne, pembroke, chc, trr, fingal etc.The majority of umpires are prob from these clubs, glenanne X 5 chc X 4 pembroke? fingal? ym? monkstown 2, trr ?.and as a umpire who wants to always do the best as when i was playing. i have umpired pembroke and chc against other teams i dont want and i am sure they dont want me every week so the glens game was a welcome break as glenanne are not firing on all cylinders and ym are knocking on the door.i suggest if people are willing to comment on umpires that they provide umpires IE ex senior players who know the game, As for playing ijc final i didnt play in any rounds previous and was still active playing, semi finals were run at the same time,and i wasnt appointed to the final.so as far as i could see no problem.BOLGER

Anonymous said...

Bolger;you're a good umpire. Fair play to you. You play advantage as much as possible and let players tackle!

But i have to say, i think its wrong when an umpire from a certain club takes charge of a game involving their club. No matter how un-biased any umpire is, if theyre umpiring their own club, there is no doubt that close calls will go a certain way more often than not. For 2 umpires from the same club to take charge of a 1st div match involving their club is outrageous.

I do agree that clubs such as YM and Rovers/Fingal should be doing more about producing umpires. But at the end of the day, what exactly are the incentives?

AW

Anonymous said...

incentives are the same as playing to do yor best...good umpire!!!!! come on...a great umpire...looking forward to umpireing when league starts again whoever it is.i must be turning in2 a hockey nerd posting comments etc....BOLGER

Anonymous said...

In my opinion whats wrong is ireland is that umpires dont interact with teams off the pitch. Umpires should be talking to individual teams and explaining laws etc so that teams understand what way different umpires umpire the game.

A good idea is to have umpires up to training sessions to discuss to teams and players key areas like the tackle etc. It happens in rugby all the time and look how much respect rugby ref's get.

Anonymous said...

Bolger youve been sucked in, you will never get away from the hook now!!

Anonymous said...

Umpires would encourage player umpire interaction, but in the bar afterwards and not on the pitch when the adrenaline is still pumping.
Next time your in a Club bar after a game, watch the player umpire interaction. There is none. The 2 umpires will have a quiet drink and head off. Very rarely does a player approach to say "I didn't agree with that" or "can you explain that decision"
I would encourage interaction as long as it of benefit to both players and umpires.
Its not about blasting an umpire for a decision made.
Bare in mind that players make alot more mistakes during a game then an umpire does!
AG

Anonymous said...

Firstly the comments by - BOLGER -
are not from Kieran Bolger and should be removed.

Secondly - Glenanne supply 5 umpires so they will at some point have to umpire glenanne games. They are decent umpires, and generously give up their Saturday afternoons to umpire. If some people don’t like it – then start umpiring – we could always do with extra numbers.

IB

Anonymous said...

could i add as well that i don't know how the Glens do it but Johnny Goulding has umpired a few of my seconds game when we played against Glenanne and he was superb. Anyone who knocks umpires should try umpiring themselves. It's a nightmare......

Anonymous said...

yeh johhny is a very good umpire

Anonymous said...

As far as umpiring goes in Leinster, it seems to be one of the single biggest bones of contention. Although not necessarily a reflection of lack of quality, the age profile of our umpires is to high, and if you are to look at the number of new umpires over the last 3 years, the number of new umpires hardly covers those who retire. Also if we were to have a good bunch of new "young" umpires, I think we would find that more umpires would take the chance to retire.

The common thread throughout is the lack of respect, players feel that they can abuse and intimidate umps. Green cards and words in the ear have little or no effect. Letting the player have a few minutes to think things over would seem like sense.

Unfort, some of our most skillful and decorated players are some of the worst offenders, as they know they can get away with it.

Long and short of it, something radical needs to happen to get new umps into the game. We are a long time from grit and grass, and even dead astro pitches are a thing of the past, but how many umps have a good understanding of how the game has changed as the surfaces, skill level, and levels of dedication has increased....?

Anonymous said...

Hi!
I'm ump and I can promise you that it's a huge sacrifice from anyone who trying to be a good ref...
I'm sure that upms have a club background is a big problem for players nd everybody around pitch but not for them!!If you want to become a top level ump you are not concentrate on your past but on game and hockey at all!
I think more respect and better understanding is the key to good cooperation between players and ump...

Krzysztof Cholewa

Anonymous said...

No other topic has seen such a pssionate response on this website, and proves that there is a lot to be done on both the umpires and players/teams side. Now that it has slipped off the front page of the website, can someting be done to keep this in the "public" eye. Looking at the previous comments, it seems to be one of the bigger issues facing the game.