Recruitment of new umpires

The Match Officials Association have renewed their attempt to recruit and train new umpires by announcing two new training courses.

To many people the perception is that umpires are old men wearing white coats, but that perception is changing.

Umpiring is something that can be enjoyed  by boys and girls, men and women from all backgrounds . The game needs to attract people who would love toi make a difference.

Youngsters as young as 12 have qualified as umpires and an increasing number of girls and women have been attending umpiring courses.

The Gordon Rigg Bradford Premier League desperately need to boost its umpiring numbers. Perhaps you are a player coming to the end of your career or have recently hung up your boots.

But equally we want a diverse and inclusive panel of umpires and we would love to hear in particular from youngsters or women who would like to give umpiring a go.

There are two training courses coming up at Ossett next month., The Stage One is being staged on Sunday, June 18 and is followed by a Stage Two course on Sunday, June 25.

Whether you are a club umpire who would like to achieve a formal qualification or somebody wanting to give umpiring a go, we will be delighted to see you attend the training courses.

Stage One
Sunday, June 18 at Ossett 10am to 4.30pm
This Stage One Umpire course is designed to give you an overview of the basic Laws of the game and how to apply them and introduce the principles of field craft and match management. It will give you the tools to enable you to umpire recreational matches where there are no independent umpires appointed.
Ample parking.
Free Tea, and coffee but please bring your own lunch
Course fee £30 (This will be refunded by the league when the candidate commits to umpire regularly in the Gordon Rigg Bradford Premier League as either a panel or club umpire)
Course Fee includes Resource pack & first year membership of ECB ACO (membership is optional and subject to meeting application criteria). You will also receive a £20 discount code to apply for Stage Two on registration
Click here to register

Stage Two
Sunday, June 25, at Ossett 9.30am-4.30pm
This course is designed to build on Umpire Education Stage One, covering further Laws and exploring the concept of working as part of a team with a colleague and the scorers. It is intended to introduce you to the skills and knowledge required to be a member of a league panel. Once you have completed the course, we recommend that you refresh your understanding of the Laws covered and study them more thoroughly by referring to the MCC on-line Laws resource.
Ample parking.
Free Tea and, coffee please bring your own lunch
Click here to register

Download and view our umpiring slide show

The Gordon Rigg Bradford League needs more umpires. For 2023 the Match Officials Association will only be able to commit to providing umpires for first team cricket unless more people answer the call.

Action is needed before the situation becomes critical. In 2022 there were 70 umpires registered for the league panel but only 54 stood in matches.

With 46 needed every weekend for first team games it is clear to see why in the peak holiday periods leads to shortages in Division Three.

Nobody wants to see players taking it in turns to umpire at square leg in Division Three games but that was the reality during the later stages of the 2022 season.

Club umpires continue to do a tremendous job in second team cricket and the league would now like to encourage them to be qualified to Stage One.

It is acknowledged that many club umpires enjoy doing the job but do not want to join the panel.  Nobody is forcing them in that direction but by securing the Stage One qualification there are benefits for both the individual and their club.

For the individual their course fees would be refunded by the league and they would become eligible in their first year after qualification for free membership of the ECB ACO. This would also provided them with free personal insurance.

If club umpires are qualified to Stage One status they would be able to umpire their club's first team if a shortage of panel umpires meant there were insufficient available in a particular week to provided two for every Division Three game. This would also negate the practice of players umpiring at square leg in first team cricket.

The league and the Match Officials Association have created a slideshow to show how you can become involved in umpiring. Click here to view it 

Make a difference. Sign up for one of our courses today.