You rarely see a football match without a neutral referee, but we hardly see any umpires in Grades cricket, so no wonder we have disciplinary issues which usually stem from dissatisfaction with the decision making of club umpires. Umpires get the best seat in the house to watch the action, and these days they are backed up by a quality umpiring association (CSMOA) who mentor and train umpires to maximise development. Umpires get mileage covered and the teams pay match fees, granted at a level that isn’t quite minimum wage, and in non Covid times teas of varying quality are served up for them. If you could spare a few days at weekends during the season, or feel that you should be putting a little time back into the game, then please consider taking one of the umpiring courses that is coming up on zoom. For more information on umpiring – https://www.csmoa.org.uk/
