As expected the decision to let players refer decisions to the third umpire has brought the old chestnut 'sanctity of the umpires' out again.
Pray, what is this 'umpire must be respected' and the rest of the hogwash'?
An umpire is "an official who supervises play and enforces the rules of the game in some sports, e.g. cricket and baseball" and in the nascent days,an umpire was a supposedly impartial bystander drafted to do the job.
An umpire is a supervisor- thats it, he is not God. So treating them as persons beyond pale is unwarranted. Lets treat them as humans and consider innovations as aids to help them discharge their duties better.
Similarly, it is time to stop thinking of 'referrals' as a device to belittle them. It will serve to enhance their standing.
Consider this, when an umpire makes an error, which is obvious to others, he loses respect (Steve Bucknor is an example.) Furthermore, it is important to give the right decision and by 'referral' an umpire is doing just that, he is putting the game above the individual and showing himself to be beyond petty ego.
By signaling a 'referral', an umpire shows himself as human and capable of correcting his error. It will make the umpiring trade less pompous and humane and probably shatter the image of umpires having their own agendas.
Surely you will agree " The best umpired game is the game in which the fans cannot recall the umpires who worked it."
Technorati Tags Cricket,Umpire,Referral
16 comments:
If I were the umpire I would straighaway signal my square to the third umpire for every appeal . When the batsman can doubt the umpires decision there is no harm in umpires doubting his own decisions. Actually this makes his job easier. He can take the easy root to thrd umpire without getting humiliated. He can earn without really umpiring and reducing himself to a ball counter.
We've played a lot of games without any 'impartial third party' enforcing the rules.... the best game is where there is no need for umpires.
Umpires represent the moral degradation of the players on the field, more umpires implies the players are lying, cheating, faking much more. Hence the uproar on sanctity.
:D
exactly Otts... couldn't have put it across better.
precisely...
the purists sneer at everything.. guess that is why they are called purists.. but then they could be called sneerists as well..
R,
Umpires were originally ball counters. :)
Ambivalent,
A well made point.
Thanks scorpi.
You seem to have made a habit of disappearing.
How is business?
allpaddedup,
A warm welcome to this community. You have a well designed website.
I agree purists are sneerists.
sid sid
Thew whole thing came coz sachin made some remarks abt umpiring in ipl ( and not in test matches he played)
Couldn't have said it better, Ottayan. They aren't Gods and shouldn't be treated that way. Perhaps this is a blessing in disguise for them, for here have been a good number of shockers last summer (English and Australian).
If they can use third umpires for run outs and boundaries then they can also use them for the rest of the doubtful decisions.
I can't understand why people at ICC are so reluctant to use technology, there must be some Amish people working over there.
VMM,
I forgot to mention a key point, the umpiring standards have also fallen, so what is wrong in questioing it?
Wasim,
Amish? :)
Yeah Otts Amish:
Even in this day and age Amish community in America stays away from technology.They do not ride in cars and they don't use electricity anything mechanical and motorised they don't use it.
business is dull... just starting off... trying to gain entry into the markets... seems to be highly saturated this industry... so thats why all the disappearing on the running around.
Oty
There are only 2 lacs Amish in the world and most of them live in Pensylvanian in a seperate county.They live away from the rest of US and they are left to carry on their austere life.Those who opt for the small pleasures of life like cars will not be considered as belonging to the community.
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