World Cup umpiring well below standard

Press, 6 May 1983, Page 8

World Cup umpiring well below standard

KEVIN TUTTY recently covered the World Cup women’s hockey tournament in Kuala Lumpur for NZPA. He was one of many observers who was unimpressed with the standard of umpirincr

When players spend months training for world championships, they are entitled to expect that umpires have undertaken similar meticulous preparation. The umpiring at the World Ci -ner’ hocke'

./orlu :up women’s tournament at the Tun Razak Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, unfortunately, fell below the necessarily high requirements. At a time when umpires and referees are becoming targets of increasing abuse • and, on occasions, physical attack, one is hesitant to criticise them.

But it was an inescapable fact that the umpiring in Kuala Lumpur was grossly inadequate, and will remain in its present undesirable state unless there is a broadening of minds among International Hockey Federation officials.

At the end of group matches, mid-way through the tournament, a vicepresident of the 1.H.F., Mrs E. Hyndman, said that she thought the standard of the umpiring was “generally very good.” It became obvious from early in the tournament that there would be comments, 99 per cent of them uncomplimentary, about the umpiring, and that some games would be affected by bad decisions.

As it transpired, an umpire’s decision decided the fate of two teams vying for the semi-finals. In its final group match, West Germany needed a win against England by two goals to reach the semi-finals on goal difference. England, down 1-2 at the interval, was awarded a free hit at the top of the German circle seconds after the re-start. The ball was hit to Jane Swinnerton, standing on the circle edge. From about half a metre inside the circle she deflected the ball at right

angles into the German goal. The umpire awarded a 16m hit, and while the English were still protesting and recovering from the shock of the decision, the Germans whipped the ball to the other end and scored. Germany scored again two minutes later with the English still in disarray. England recovered to reduce the score to 2-4, but the damage had been done. The normally circumspect English manager, Miss Barbara Holland, did not conceal her feelings about the umpiring. “Diabolical" was her description. She elaborated that she and the English coach, Miss Wyn Heath, feared when they were assessing England’s chances before the tournament, that a wrong umpiring decision, rather than anything they could control, would have a dramatic effect on England’s placing at the tournament.

A coach of one of the World Cup semi-finalists summarised the situation with the comment: “The standard of umpiring simply isn’t good enough for the standard of play.” Had the standard of umpiring deteriorated in the last 15 Or 20 minutes of a match there might have been some excuse. The concentration of plaiyers flagged in the Kuala Lumpur heat in the late stages of matches, and it would have been reasonable to expect umpires to make a few more mistakes in that period: Unfortunately, the errors usually started soon

after the first whistle.

Many of the umpires were not prepared physically for the demands of a tournament in a tropical country, and Mrs Hyndman did concede that, in the future, umpires should have a fitness test before they are allowed to officiate at the World Cup. An improvement in fitness should be only a minor concern to the 1.H.F., however. A far more important consideration is to ensure that umpires know the proper application of the rules. The most obvious areas where instruction is required is on the obstruction rule, and the left-side tackle. Crude tackles from the left-side were especially prevalent throughout the tournament and helped to spoil the game for spectators.

New Zealand players are punished hard in this country if their tackles from the left are not perfect and, understandably, they quickly became frustrated at the rough treatment dished out to them, which went unpunished. Lesley Monk received the only warning card shown to a New Zealand player. That was in the game against West Germany, and was one of the injustices of the tournament. Monk was dribbling down the right wing and was being sandwiched by two Germans. She tried to shrug off the attentions of her markers, and was shown a green card for her troubles.

How the I.H.F. improves the standard of umpiring is

another question. Coaching from tie top men is one logical answer, but unless action is taken soon the spectator appeal of the women> branch of the sport will be totally ruined. Most importantly, the internatonal administration must realise that the game is for the players. The teams it the farewell dinner in luala Lumpur must have wondered why they had speit two weeks in the Malaysian capital. For ai hour they watched while administrators and umpires were given presentations. And they listened to a sptech which thanked everyont associated with the tournament and which casually added at the end: “Lastly ve must not forget the playirs.”