The umpires’ group is set for its annual general meeting on Monday, July 1, in the Lightfoot Rooms at Shepparton’s Deakin Reserve.
The association is hoping to replace the handful of umpires that will not take part in officiating the 2024-25 summer campaign.
That said, current umpire association president Brett Sharp says the more who express interest, the merrier.
“It’s our first meeting ahead of the new season, so we want to get through it quickly so we can start recruiting more umpires,” Sharp said.
“Like every sport, officials are hard to get, so we want to get our office-bearers up and running again so we can add some new people.
“Last season, we started with 17 umpires and they filled every A-grade and B-grade game, but we finished with only 13 for various reasons.
“Our Christmas miracle would be to have an umpire in every game of every grade, but if we can recruit ex-players or others who want to come umpire, we can hook them up one-on-one with our senior umpires.
“We have a proven system over the years and we can set people up with Cricket Victoria to go through programs that help them get better.”
Sharp spruiked the minimal past history or experience needed to get involved on account of the association’s built-in development programs.
On top of those elements, Sharp affirms that anyone from any demographic or background can get involved — provided they have their own means of transport, of course.
“We don’t care if it’s male or female; we’d love to have more female umpires since women’s cricket has gotten up and going in the region,” Sharp said.
“We’d like them to have a car licence and a bit of cricket background, since you’ve got to go to places like Waaia and Numurkah.
“We’ve got umpires from all different backgrounds, nationalities and ages in our system at the moment, and we can train everyone and set them up with pathways.”
The most important thing to do in order to kick off the process of getting involved, Sharp says, is simply to present oneself at the July 1 meeting.
“After that, we’ll have a meeting once per month or so to go over things like rules for the season,” Sharp said.
“They can make themselves known at the AGM, and we can point them in the right direction.”
