Umpires Association head calls for code of conduct

Roger Davis, president of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Cricket Umpires Association, is calling on the Kishore Shallow led St Vincent and the Grenadines Cricket Association (SVGCA) to implement a code of conduct.{{more}}

Davis’ request comes in light of growing incidences of ill-discipline in the local cricket competition run by the SVGCA, noting that during the current National Lotteries Authority Neil Williams Twenty/20 Competition, the problems have increased.

“First of all, implement the code of conduct for players and officials, and I mean managers, coaches and umpires… Make players aware of the sanctions that could be had if they do not adhere to it,” Davis recommended.

He said the present structure of simply reporting the incidences is “limited,” as in most cases “nothing comes out of them.”But Davis is also calling on an independent body to hear offences, as in the present set-up, executive members often defend players who are reported by umpires.

Not laying the blame only on players, Davis commented: “Team managers need to sit with their players and show an example…. In some cases, examples are not shown by senior players or team management.”

Himself an active umpire, Davis recalled two recent cases, in which one senior current national player and a former national player, who is also a coach, a budding regional umpire and an executive member of the SVGCA, kicked down the stumps when decisions went against their teams.

Last Saturday at the Arnos Vale Two Playing Field, another player did likewise with umpires Dillon Child and Lenford Goodluck officiating.

One female umpire, Maria Abbott, also told SEARCHLIGHT that she was threatened to be beaten with a bat during a match last season.

The offender, she said, was a former St Vincent and the Grenadines and Windwards player, who was displeased with a decision she had made.

Abbott confirmed that the player was asked to write a letter of apology to her when the matter reached the SVGCA.

Davis added that he, too, had been threatened to be beaten with the stumps by one player, after he had called him for “throwing.”

Davis was one of the umpires standing in the opening match of the 2012 season when an on field fight between two players took place at the Arnos Vale One Playing Field.

The local umpires’ head has thumbed the issue of ill-discipline to a wider societal problem, the players’ lack of knowledge of the laws of cricket and certain playing conditions.

“I think it has to do with the level of discipline in society more than anything else… The players believe that they are never wrong … It is the way they are being socialized and too, they do not know the playing conditions,” Davis proffered.

Davis is fearful that if something is not done soonest by the local authorities, something grave may occur.

In England, cricketers could face punishments similar to yellow and red cards in new plans by the game’s law-makers the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).

The proposals states: “Umpires will not have cards, but will be able to dismiss players or send them to a sin-bin in trials that will begin at club, school and university levels.”

Five club matches were abandoned in the UK last year because of violence.(RT)