Victorian cricket competitions reveal ‘struggle’ to recruit in-need umpires

Local cricket associations have revealed the unfortunate situation that could arise as they “struggle” to recruit in-need umpires who are “just not there.”

Local cricket competitions are at risk of more scorebook disputes, games running overtime, minor misbehaviour issues as umpire numbers continue to remain low following the pandemic.

The VSDCA has lost almost a third of its umpires going from a panel of 100 umpires pre-Covid to 65 this season and further implications have arisen with up to 10 umpires being unavailable on a weekly basis.

Cricket Victoria has recorded a decline of 409 in accredited umpires from 1325 pre-Covid to 916 at the start of season 2022-23.

The Covid pandemic is believed to the major factor in the decline in umpires as well as player behaviour.

Lower grades are expected to suffer from the issue as the job of the umpire will be left up to the players.

In response to the emerging issue, Cricket Victoria recently hired a state umpire manager who will focus on creating opportunities for new umpires to join the game in a new strategy.

It will also involve the enhancement of training for umpires and giving officials the best chance to develop and go to the next level.

VSDCA cricket 2022-23: Bayswater v Balwyn at Bayswater Oval. Bayswater bowler Harry Dixon. Picture: Valeriu Campan

VSDCA secretary Ken Hilton said the shortage of umpires was a challenge statewide.

“We are all struggling for umpires at the moment,” Hilton said.

“We have worked really hard but we just haven’t been able to entice umpires to the VSDCA.

“I think every cricket Association is trying hard to recruit umpires but it is a struggle.

“They are just not there.

“Everybody is in a similar situation.

“We’ve had a loss of umpires over the last two years and they are all struggling to rebuild their umpire panels.”

Hilton expressed the importance of umpires for the game.

“And we need umpires,” he said.

“Umpires are an integral part of the game and we need them, whether they be male or female, we don’t mind, the Associations will take both sexes, our doors are open to anybody that wants to umpire.

“It is a major concern at the moment for community cricket because the numbers have dwindled.

“It takes a long time to rebuild your numbers again.”

Hilton said more problems such as scorebook disputes, games running overtime, minor misbehaviour issues will arise with less umpires in the game.

“If you haven’t got the independent person there (umpiring) and the clubs are trying to manage this, especially in the lower grades where we got a lot of younger players, captains have got their hands full,” he said.

“They are trying to get a scorebook done, they are trying to get players padded up.

“The umpires bring that authority, control and independence to the adjudication of the game.

“They keep the games moving on time and the players that get feisty, they keep them under control.

“That’s the flow on effect if you don’t have umpires in the lower grades.”

Cricket Victoria’s Premier Cricket general manager Liam Murphy said player behaviour was also a factor in the decline in umpires.

“The environment that is created for any person is a really important part to why they would continue to do something,” Murphy said.

“I think if we are real, the need is for our community of players and coaches and the like to understand the importance of umpires in the game and to make sure we provide them with a safe environment to go about their game.

“I do believe there is an element of player behaviour or behaviour full stop that definitely could have impacted individual choices as to whether they continue umpiring or not.

“I think we need to continue to make sure that we educate our cricketing community to ensure those types of environments are less frequent.”

Despite the declining number of umpires, Murphy said it was a positive to see that there was a rise in accredited umpires.

“We have spent the last six to 12 months coming out of Covid and you got ensuing implications that it has had on staff workforce and the like,” he said.

“The umpiring space was impacted there so we have built a strategy and are actively providing a considerable amount of resources to umpiring to try and address the trend of the reduction of umpires.

“And that has led to a positive result so far this year in additional accreditation of umpires.

“We are doing exceptionally well compared to the rest of the states but that being said it doesn’t mean that is the final outcome.”

Cricket Victoria have a total of 913 accredited umpires with 584 in community and 329 in high performance.

Murphy and his team are hoping to build on those numbers.

“We are really keen to put a long standing strategy in place,” he said.

“We are really keen to make sure that we provide a high level of support for associations to get the number of umpires up.

“And we are really thankful for the work of Associations and umpires and what they are doing for the game because without them we wouldn’t have a game to play.”

Murphy said the state was aware of the umpire age “getting a little bit older across the board” which has led to a focus of getting more younger people involved.

He also said the rise of women’s cricket has also brought about “a really positive problem” in raising the demand for umpires due to more matches being played.