In the not so distant past all of the games in the top two divisions in the county would have had a county umpire provided with most of these games having two county umpires. However we now find ourselves in a situation where most division two games are played with no neutral umpire at all which in itself causes problems as one may imagine. 

We take a look at the reasons why which are pretty simple we have lost a lot of umpires to retirement however this shouldn't be an excuse. Most of our umpires are over the age of 60 with little sign of any younger umpires coming forward. In the football season we saw a wealth of former players and new referees which was a breath of fresh air meaning more games were allocated refs which is much better for everyone involved. 

Cricket is a much longer day with games starting just after one and games go beyond seven o'clock on a regular basis, sometimes players and umpires walk off the field with the time closer to nine than to seven. So yes it's a long day. Football refs are paid close to £40 with their travelling for a 90 minute game, umpires can be umpiring for close to seven hours, and the pay well it's the same. Umpires are rewarded with just £40 for their time. Granted many umpires do it for the love of the game but it's also nice to be shown you are appreciated. Does £40 for that amount of time give that impression? I'll leave that for you to decide. 

In addition to this some clubs have now stopped providing teas for reasons beyond my understanding. Over the covid time it was stopped with good reason, however it's an age old tradition and for some clubs not to be providing that is a real shame. So no cup of tea and cake, and just £40 are the county really doing all they can to encourage umpires? Again we will let you decide.  Credit to all our umpires and even more credit to the ex players and players who step up and fill the void for no reward every Saturday. Running a cricket club requires a lot of work, scorers, groundsmen and umpiring your own games is something that could be avoided. It would be great for the county to see some new umpires soon meanwhile keep up the good work to all the current umpires and the clubs' stand ins, without you we'd have no game. 

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