There are never enough umpires to go around. Not just in Leinster, but around the globe clubs, and unions struggle to find enough umpires to meet the ever growing number of matches that should, ideally, be covered by appointed umpires.
But we are making progress. In 2011, the Leinster Cricket Umpires’ and Scorers Association appointed a record 921 umpires to matches in Leinster – and this in a season when three of our members landed up in hospital for significant parts of the season. At the start of the season, we’d given a commitment to the LCU that we’d cover all matches in Divisions 1-4. We eventually missed one match in Mullingar (which I believe was eventually rained off). In addition we managed to cover almost 80% of Division 5 and more than 40% of Division 6 matches plus a growing number of youth and women’s matches.
And hopefully this wasn’t a flash in the pan. Our winter training course has switched from once a week for 8 weeks to an intensive weekend course. The effect on numbers has been dramatic. Thirteen attended the first course at the beginning of February and eight of these have committed to make themselves available for matches during the 2012 season. And another twenty have signed up for a second introductory course at the end of March! Encouraged by these numbers, we have agreed to extend our coverage to all matches in Divisions 1-6 plus all Pilkington Plate matches. We’ll also hope to see a greater proportion of Divisions 7-9 matches covered this season.
So, if you discover that you see more umpires this season than you’re used to, do two things: