Umpires defended

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 9, Issue 385, 7 May 1991, Page 4

Umpires defended

• I support the comments made in defence of the netball umpires in the bulletin 30 April Players and spectators must realise that the umpire is there to control the game of the fourteen players on court. She umpires infringements that she can see from where she is standing at the time, and in many cases is obstructed from view of infringements because other players are blocking her view. Hence players and spectators standing at other vantage points see things differently. An umpire does so to the best of her ability, and has only two eyes to observe play, and has about two seconds to make a decision whether or not to penalise a player, as compared to all the eyes of the players and spectators who sometimes ponder over whether a stepping occurred or an obstruction was rightly called. The umpire does not have as long as you to decide. Sure, umpires may miss infringements or make a mistake, but so do players on court make mistakes, and that's when they are penalised. It works both ways so give the umpires a fair g°.

Some umpires are just learning and they need encouragement to enable them to gain selfconfidence, not criticism or ridicule or else netball could lose good prospective umpires. As a qualified netball umpire, I can speak from experience. When I was learning, I nearly threw the towel in because I was getting hassled by players and spectators also. Now I am glad I stuck it out. By the way even qualified umpires make mistakes. After all we are all only human.

Jackie

Rapana