Keeping Control of Umpiring

[dblacklock]

I have to attend at course next week at National Grid the Utility company to prove that I am competent person (which will be stretch) to manage projects on their sites - a course taught only by them no matter what experience you may already have. Okay so we are not talkikng life and death in refereeing, but I still maintain that one body that develops, delivers and certifies officials can only be a good step forward.

Wait until the ELA's insurance company mandates that all officials must be recently certified before they can referee a game (at any level in any discipline). I bet we see this within the next 5-10 years.

Kari, I agree with a fixed cost, but who pays for development programmes etc. So long as the surplus goes back into the officiating programmes I have no problems charging more to help with this. hell coaching programs have been getting much more money then refereeing ever has (irrespective of which country you reside) and it is time that officials have the same development opportunities.

[robbo]

I have heard on the grapevine that there R&U do not set the prices for courses the ELA does.

Correct. It's an ELA course.

[mandy]

At the end of the day we both want to get more officials. The problem is no one wants to stand out in the rain and cold, get yelled -money aside. There are too many other options for people to spend their time. Officiating is a passion and the £50 fee would not deter someone with that passion. We just need to keep looking for good people, who have the necessary skill set. Some of this can be taught (in a classroom), but most of it must be learned on the job (week in and week out), but only after you have the necessary foundations in place. I do think the ELA is going about this the right way – a structured approach.

I'm not sure I entirely agree with that

Whilst for some people that is undoubtedly true (thinking of ones near to me like Tom Slade, Dan Wright and Steve Jarvis who forgo playing to ref whilst still under 30), for most of the people I know that go on the course they have to be persuaded to do it, so that they meet the requirements for the league (in the South all clubs must have at least 2 basic refs) and if enough of them do it then they may miss one game per season each - in which case it is a love for their sport and their club and a large chunk of collective selflessness rather than the love of officiating.

For others they probably go into it once they've finished playing - potentially more a love of the game than of officiating (if only initially) - if it was for officiating then they possibly would have forgone the playing to officiate?

For me I did the course so when I'm not playing I can ref and help out other teams, and I do enjoy it, but only on the condition that I'm not missing a game I should be playing in when I do it - I hate missing a game to ref it.

Don't get me wrong I think it's fantastic that many of the people who attend the courses are still playing as it just makes the likelihood of them becoming officials once they finish playing much higher, but it would be interesting to see the percentage of qualified refs who are still playing - my guess is it would be about 80% (in the south anyway)

Went off on one there a bit, but the problem isn't the percentage of people for whom it is a passion - it is in getting others on the courses to up the number of qualified officials so all games can be covered (and competently) - these people make up a reasonable number of the refs who take charge of games, and it is those that will be put off by a £50 course fee. A few years ago it was a struggle to get 10 or so people to turn up to a course in Cardiff when it was £10 per head and the university was covering the costs of the participants - if I'd have been asking the guys to chip in too then simply none of them would have attended - as it is approximately half of those who sat that course are officiating regularly now - it's not perfect but it's better than if that course hadn't happened, and with the course fees as they are, it wouldn't have. I'm not saying there shouldn't be a charge and that the course tutors shouldn't get paid, as there clearly should, but that there is a level at which it can be restrictive, and there isn't the number of people with that passion to fulfil the required numbers at present.

[mully]

I suppose a large element of what an umpire do is to keep a game safe and fair, in that order. If it concerns safety, then I'm pretty sure somewhere in the insurance policy would say that requires standardised training to qualify. Would you let someone administer CPR on you if they learnt it off youtube? If we're trying to bring lacrosse on par with other main stream sports, we probably should start by doing things properly.

At the same time, I do think £50 per person is pretty unrealistic for most clubs (altho this is far cheaper than most other sports). South has recently told us they will subsidise £20 per person who wants to be an umpire. Good way of spending their funding!

I've just been assessed and qualified this Oct, and am correctly listed on the lax umps website (http://www.laxumps.co.uk/) as are the other 3 umpires at my club. The list looks up to date, if you think they missed you off, you should contact them. The site launched only a couple months ago, and Dorothy Hirsch et al (who are really on the ball) are ironing out teething problems. I thought the online theory test was a really good idea.

[DommoBath]

There should be a standard literature and course content that should be publically available of what is required to pass the test - and the test should then be allowed to be taken by anyone who chooses.

Eg for my FSA qualifications - you can learn through a number of schools, study by yourself, whatever, but as long as you pass the actual exam then it is fine. If a person passes the exam it follows they have shown enough competence, regardless of whether they have been taught by their mate, mum, dad, or the ELA official.

That way a qualified ref for example could run an equivalent course at their club over 2 weekends, train more people and have them do the exam, and at a lower cost to the individual. Does this not make more sense?

[chippie]

Does this not make more sense?

yes in a very simple way....

there are different levels...so in you proposal what level do you need to be before you can run your own course? just cause you pass the test does that make you competent to officiate at all levels or even good enough to pass your 'knowledge' on?

not taken an FSA exam so please correct me but im guessing your dealing with less variables/outcomes and things going than you would while umpiring?

If it was as simple as this then im sure the 'bigger' sports would run their officials development the same way

[DommoBath]

No the FSA allows you to participate in certain activities relatingt o financial services - not all. I didn't mean it as a like for like example, per se, but the same is true of most qualifications. For example, I could have been home schooled, been entered for my A-levels and got 4 As them all. Does this mean I am less competent than someone who went to an official school to learn and got the same grades? Not in my opinion - you have learned the required material and shown you can apply it - I don't see why this should be any different to referreeing.

Maybe we should introduce different tierings of umpire qualifications in we should have a "Basic Referree's Qualification" - whereby a person can take a test (having chosen to learn how to ref eithern through an official course or via an unofficial channel) - and then a higher level of qualification to allow you do ref a higher level (territorials, nationals etc). (As far as I'm aware this is not the case though I am happy to be told otherwise). The main problem we have is not having enough refs (and this appliues to men and women's games) at the grass roots and lower levels. If more people are able to gain their basic qualification by learning to ref through "unofficial" but still competent channels, pass their test, and can the officiate club matches, juniors matches etc, surely the sport is better off for it.

[chippie]

qualifications are tiered...

the problem is that there are not enough people taking the course, therefore not enough people moving further up the tiers therefore not enough people to assess people