CRICKET - Umpire puts hand out for more help

Got a thick skin, no hearing, good eyesight and nothing to do on a Saturday afternoon? Then Dean Potter wants to hear from you.
The new chairman of the Northland Cricket Umpires Association is on a recruitment drive for umpires with membership numbers now at crisis point. But even he admits it takes a special kind of person to take the plunge and be the man in the middle of club cricket confrontations every weekend.
Currently there is just one fully qualified cricket umpire in Northland, two permanent weekly members and only five umpires operating in Northland cricket in total.
Now Potter is out to find more before the situation goes from crisis point to complete disaster.
"The rest of cricket in Northland is humming, we have coaching set-ups, player development programmes and overseas players coming here to play the game, but we need the umpires association working as well. We need new umpires," Potter said.
With six premier clubs and a myriad of lower grade teams playing fixtures every weekend, club fixtures are controlled by player-umpires, the batting team supplying people to stand and officiate games.
But Potter says that can only be seen as a stop-gap measure as it can impact on fixtures and add unwanted pressure to what can be already tense situations.
"Player-umpires can just be a recipe for disaster where you have competitive men getting frustrated in situations that can get quite prickly sometimes. I gave the game away partly because of that (player-umpire) situation," he said.
"I used to enjoy getting into that competitive thing but it is difficult not to take that kind of atmosphere personally if you are not there in a more independent role. It just adds pressure to guys who just want to play the game.
"We are putting out and SOS for umpires."
It is a situation Northland's only fully qualified cricket umpire, teacher Mike Elliott, admits needs attention. Northland are not alone though, as every association in the country is struggling for new umpires.
Ideally, with three premier games each weekend, Northland needs at least six fully qualified umpires to officiate. But even that would leave lower grade fixtures without independent umpires.
Elliott says umpiring has many bonuses, not least being able watch the action ``from the best seat in the house' when standing at the wicket. There are also preferential tickets to one day internationals and test matches on offer from New Zealand Cricket.
"We already have lots of resources for training people, we don't expect people to just go out there and learn to do it while you're standing in a game without any sort of support. There are opportunities for guys to sit exams and qualify if they want to and we have a `standing fee' for guys who do the job each weekend."
Potter, though, is not about to sit around and wait for applications. He plans to actively recruit, mentioning that he had plans to send flyers to bowling clubs and retirement villages to try to find new members. "We need guys with a bit of time on their hands who can spare their Saturdays to come down to the cricket and help us out."