Why only penalise the players? Why not the umpires?

Umpires need to be made as much a ‘playing’ part of the game as the players.

 

By Rajesh Ramaswamy

 

“Umpires make mistakes.”

 

“That’s part of the game.”

 

“Batsmen need to accept the decision.”

 

All right, we’ve all grown up hearing these mantras from coaches, commentators and their grandmothers in Yorkshire. But how logical is this, really? Perhaps it’s one of the quirks of the game, but it’s far from endearing. Just ask a batsman who’s timing the ball brilliantly while playing a career-defining innings when he becomes victim of a poor umpiring decision – given out, caught behind, when bat and ball weren’t even in the same pincode. And as a result of that poor decision by the umpire he gets dropped and is never picked to play for the country again. Do you think you can play that theme song about ‘the umpire’s decision is final…’ to a man deprived of his dream and his career?

 

Now that’s why the UDRS has come in (let’s not get into UDRS versus BCCI now). It is a welcome move to use technology and to provide another string to the decision-making bow. But what does it do to errant officials beyond making the umpire look like a chump? Nothing!

 

All we have will be an umpire chafing at the public humiliation and definitely not being at his best because he knows he’s made a booboo and has lost his gravitas, at least in the eyes of the players for that day.

 

Now here’s my solution: a scheme that’ll take them out of the firing line, create employment opportunities for more umpires, put in place a ‘live’ examination of their skills, and make umpires as much a ‘playing’ part of the game as the players, while enhancing audience enjoyment.

 

My idea is that we have a team of umpires in each game. If one of the on-field umpires makes a mistake (as shown by UDRS), he’ll be declared ‘out’, and will have to sit out, while another umpire takes his place. Period! He can’t come back, till the next match. He’ll be paid a good fee for the match with bonuses for an error-free performance, But he’ll be paid by the number of overs he rendered service. Now before all you traditionalists hang me out to dry, consider one thing: Why should only the players be penalised for a wrong decision or a mistake? Why not the umpires too? This will help weed out bad umpires and reward good ones. And please don’t give me a load of bull like” Umpires make honest mistakes… its part of the game, the batsman has to accept it” etc, etc…

 

I mean, would you like it if a batsman is caught behind and refuses to go, saying it was just an ‘honest mistake? I mean not everyone is WG Grace, right? Same difference!

 

What do you guys think?

 

I know one man who’ll disagree violently, especially with the suggested fee structure: Asoka de Silva

 

(Rajesh is a former fast bowler who believes he could have been the answer to India’s long prayer for an ‘express’ paceman. He regularly clocked speeds hovering in the late 80’s and occasionally let fly deliveries that touched the 90’s. Unfortunately for him, the selectors were talking ‘mph’, while he was operating in the metric lane with ‘kmph’. But he moved on from that massive disappointment which resulted from what he termed a ‘miscommunication’, and became a communications professional. After a long innings in advertising as a Creative Director, he co-founded a brand consulting firm called Contrabrand. He lives in Chennai and drives down to work in Bangalore…an arrangement that he finds less time consuming and stressful than getting from one end of Bangalore to the other.)

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