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Hi Caleb,
If we had enough people who would join clubs and go through a cricket 'culture' it could be better but desperate times call for desperate action and I suspect we don't have the time to do this. If we want to fast-track then we have to think outside the box. Also, these additions would be 'extras' learning on the job the way most people do in their working life. From their midst we might uncover some top class umpires. Your reference to football is interesting. I suspect many of the incidents to which you refer are gleaned from television review. Same for cricket. Trial by television is cruel and unfair. An official makes one mistake and is lambasted by commentators and TV pundits with a bevy of technology on their lap. TV reviews will eventually come into football and it will stop the flow of the game and perhaps not even eliminate the mistakes. The TV umpire is not infallible either and neither is Hawkeye. Thankfully umpiring in NCU cricket is far removed from these situations. I understand your thinking but you know as well as anyone where 'friendly' umpiring is going to take us. Don't dismiss the non player as I know of one very famous example who knew the laws better than anyone and rose to be a very accomplished international umpire and tutor.

An excellent "FEATURES" tribute to J.R.W. Boyce on his much deserved honour. A larger than life character who made a major contribution to cricket in the 70s & 80s. And managed to keep his place ahead of a future Indian star! I wonder what the Divisional Committee would be like if he was still a member?!

Re Clarence,

Positive pro-active thinking, yes...But I would ere on the side of caution when advocating fast-tracking anyone from 'civy street' straight in the guise of an official umpire who would be active around the circuit of the NCU.
Even if they are model students, pass all their theory tests in the classroom with flying colours and impress all and sundry with their knowledge concerning the laws of the game.

Much more prudent to recruit them initially to a cricket club, get them playing plenty of cricket matches under their belts and then they will feel if they have what it takes..
I.E. Feel for the game, people skills, calm demeanour etc. etc. In other words, skills that can only be acquired and gleaned from actually participating in the game of cricket.

In saying all that, I'm certainly not suggesting any person has to be a cracking cricketer before they can become an offical umpire, ( though most of our current crop of umpires have all played the game to a fairly decent standard ) but it does help when standing out in the middle if one has played a bit themselves, not just for self-confidence but players will very quickly hone into whether you know what you're talking about or not !

And to highlight my point, let's look at football for example. How many times do we see after-match post-mortems from half demented managers, disillusioned players and TV pundits, lamenting over the lack of consistency from referees when it comes to their on field decisions week in week out, their lack of continuity and down right howlers they often make during the course of a 90 min match?

And why ?

Many of these referees, line assistants, haven't even played park football in their time let alone guide and control a premiership/International football game !

And we certainly don't want local cricket degenerating into that kind of farce, no matter what level we play at....No substitute for experince!

Andy,
At 100 quid you wouldn't hurt the payroll. LOL.
Trouble with penalizing a few clubs is that you also penalize the team they play against and at what cost to the integrity of the game? Look down the leagues and see the amount of cheating and bias that 'friendly' umpires generate. Some of them are great guys until they put on a white coat. The way forward must be a better model than simply 'love of the game' as the numbers continue to drop. Thank goodness for the loyal umpires, but their numbers need strengthening from new sources. We can't make former players umpire so we need to look outside the box.

Alan

Lol! I'll ask her.....

Ed. The point you make was brought up before and I am aware of the situation in clubs. Whenever the appointments secretary of NIACUS feels strongly enough to highlight the position then it should be taken seriously. My personal view is that while NIACUS provides training the responsibility for recruitment lies with the NCU. After all, that is the body that arranges the fixtures. I recall many years ago that an NCU directive was issued to the effect that if a club didn't produce an umpire then they wouldn't get an official umpire for their fixtures. If that was re-introduced then it may concentrate the minds of a least a couple of Premier clubs! As for raising the fees - sounds good - leaving home at 10:00 for a 12:00 start, 6:30 finish, 1/2 hour for a pint, back in Buckna at 8:00 p.m. 10 hours @ say £10.00 an hour - nearly as much as some players!!

Good points Andy and Peter.
Proper remuneration is certainly one way to approach this problem. Ian can't produce umpires out of a hat and neither can clubs! Cricket is in a different era and money talks. Why do overseas players come here and why do players move clubs-money! The NCU think-tank needs to come up with the solution as the clubs haven't got the answers as it stands. I previously suggested setting a much higher umpires' fee and trying to recruit at universities/colleges and within the female ranks. Perhaps even unemployment centres. Teach potential applicants the laws and the practices involved and recruit outside the game. Everyone can be taught. If clubs can spend thousands on players they can pay umpires proper fees. Without them the game is nothing. Times have changed.

Re: Shortage of Umpires

Andy, I agree with the Editor the only way to address the shortage is to make it more attractive to umpire through increased match fees/mileage allowance for them. With the money now being spent on players throughout the NCU then extra money for umpires is a must

'An increase in the match fee will get more people to do it'?

I'm very grateful for the money I do receive for umpiring but have no idea how it's worked out and I'm not really worried. I would rather umpire with a colleague who's there for the love and interest in cricket over a financial gain.

From a personal point of view I umpire because I love doing it and have umpired many friendly/select games for no payment in the past. I'm always delighted to accept offers to facilitate any game if I can.

I guess it's a bit like the playing side of the game in the recent past. Those getting paid ludicrous amounts of money have all the extra pressure and some seem to have forgotten why we play the game.

Just a personal view and not any representation of NIACUS.

A couple of years ago I posted about the lack of umpires and I was pilloried by a few posters who felt that it would be inappropriate to list the clubs that didn't provide any. And who was I to suggest that clubs should be required to nominate guys?!! Well the crows have come home to roost if Ian Houston's article on the NCU site is correct. What do the nay-sayers have to say now? To quote Flossie when I get something wrong "don't say I didn't tell you"!!

Congratulations to Ballymena Cricket Club's James McClean on his selection as captain of the NCU's Under-15 Development Tour squad to South Africa in the spring.
A young player with a huge future.
The wicket keeping position at Eaton Park is in safe hands - at long last!

Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year to everyone from the Ulster Cricketer team.

re Neil Fullerton. If you are talking about the blond yummy mummy then we'll swap our pro for her.....

Seasonal greetings.
I would be someone that always reads this forum but never feels like commenting but, bored in work, thought I would add my thoughts on a couple of topics.

Some interesting views on here of lower league clubs and youth setups, and I can only give input from my own experience with Donaghadee CC.

After some very successful times in the NCU many years ago, we would be a very small club that can (just about …) get out a 1st XI and 2nd XI.
It would not be an understatement to say that we are just about getting by – and this is down to the efforts (on and off the pitch) of a few key clubmen who I will not embarrass on here by naming them.
We no longer have a youth set up and rely on word of mouth and reputation as a social friendly club to attract players young and old.
It would be great to have a load of kids to bring through the club, however we simply don’t have the manpower or youth base in the area to allow this.
We actually have a good core group of maybe 30-odd players but unfortunately getting them to commit to playing most weeks / every week is the biggest problem – one that I’m sure is replicated throughout the lower league teams.

But from my point of view, I’d like to comment on 2 of the clubs often mentioned on here:

Cregagh CC – whilst we have had many a rough battle with them over the last 3 or 4 years, I can only applaud the way that particular club has embraced the youth setup and decided to move forward in that manner. In the 2 games we had against them in 2014 it was obvious that the core of the team are the younger players and the talent that has come through their ranks. I hope that they manage to stay in Section 2 come the end of the 2015 season to prove their cricketing strategy even further. (*Although to balance things out, I reckon I had the worst cup of tea of the season in there, so please improve that!!)

Victoria CC – another club that I can only give full credit to. Like others, I read the comments on here this time last season regarding them being a yo-yo club so was very happy to see them remain in Section 2 for 2015. Must have been extremely satisfying for all club members and I hope they stabilise themselves in that division now.

Anyways, that’ll do for me, back to work ….

Now that the CIYMS bashing seems to have died down it would be good to see what everyone thinks will be the Premier League Table come the end of the season.

1. Waringstown
2. CIYMS
3. Instonians
4. North Down
5. CSNI
6. Carrickfergus (if they get a decent pro)
7. Lisburn
8. Ballymena