Dear Marge, Recently in a game I umpired, a colleague with whom I had officiated many times before was quite happy to speak to me prior to the game. I blew for a foul when play was coming towards me, something we had agreed on prior to the match, but my colleague stood and shook her head as if in disagreement. At half time she would not speak to me, so it was impossible to discuss the situation in question. Throughout the game my colleague was making rude comments to her team with regard to my ability, these comments were also overheard by my team. Following the game, some of my team's opponents, who had lost the match, made comment to me with regard to my ability, I felt this was unjust and was particularly upsetting because there were 2 qualified umpires playing who congratulated me on my umpiring. I must point out that I umpired the corresponding away fixture without any complaint from our opponents, but then they did win that game. Again my colleague would not speak to me. What, if anything could I have done? Dear member, A difficult situation to say the least. If your colleague would not speak to you at the end of the game there was very little you could have done at this juncture, short of writing to the Association with a formal complaint. The other option would have been to have singled out the opponents’ captain and asked her to discuss with you and your team’s captain, making sure you put your point of view, but this would only have been possible if both captains were willing to take part in such a discussion. However I do feel that the whole unsavoury situation might have been averted if you had taken the following steps :- During your pre match discussion with your colleague, make it clear that you will meet up at half time and full time when it might be appropriate to discuss any decisions that there may be confusion over. This may have made your colleague more affable to talk with you. Another option would have been to have stopped time when your colleague had stood shaking her head and to have gone over to her to further discuss the decision. It may have been that your colleague had seen something completely different, but I do not advocate standing and shaking your head in these situations, umpires are there to support one another after all. I can only hope that you have put this unfortunate experience behind you and should you meet up with this umpire again, you are able to umpire the match together as a team. |
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