NORFOLK HOCKEY UMPIRING ASSOCIATION
History
The NHUA was founded on 2nd January 1996 following a merger between the then Norfolk County Hockey Umpires Association (founded so long ago nobody can remember when!) and the Norfolk Women's Hockey Umpires Association (founded 1990). For a while we had men's and women's sections looking after their own appointments. Since 1999 both sections have been totally integrated and run as one, thus saving on administration and making better use of umpiring resources. At the 2006 AGM it was agreed to change the name of the association. The word "umpiring" is to imply, suggest and in fact signal that the association is there for everyone interested in umpiring and not just a cosy "club" for umpires.
NHUA Officers
President: Peter Lemon
01553 844572
Garden House, Rectory Lane, North Runcton, King's Lynn, PE33
0QS
e-mail:- peter@middaggs.co.uk
Secretary:
Rod Larwood
01953 717937
The Oaks, Larling,
Norwich, NR16 2QS
e-mail :- rodlar88@btinternet.com
Treasurer & Chief Umpiring Coach: Mike Pepper 01502 741570
8 Durrants Close, Kessingland,
Lowestoft, Suffolk, NR33 7PB
email:- mikehpepper@hotmail.com
Membership Secretary - Level-1
Administrator: Alan
Jones 01603
747956
Witts End, 11 Breydon Drive North,
Costessey, Norwich, NR8 5BB
e-mail :- alan.jones@bbsrc.ac.uk or alan@wittsend.co.uk
Neutral Pool Secretary: Ashley
Rex 07795 564866
17 Juniper Close, Thetford, Norfolk, IP24
2YG
e-mail:- thetfordrhino@hotmail.com
Young Umpire Officer: vacant
Council
Member: Sheila George 01493
752189
Englands Farm House, 1 George Lane, Acle,
Norfolk, NR13 3DR
e-mail :- smg.68@btinternet.com
Council Member: Leah Collett
07738
107037
8 Briars Gardens, Attleborough , Norfolk, NR17 2GY
e-mail:- leahcollett@hotmail.com
Council Member: Vaughan Dearling
01953
483736
Kiribati House, The Green, Cashton,
Attleborough, Norfolk, NR17 1DB
e-mail:- vucdearling@hotmail.com
Council Member: Trevor Norman 07940
493032
22 High Road, Wortwell, Harleston, Norfolk, IP20
0HH
e-mail:- trevordnorman@hotmail.com
NHA
County Discipline Officer: Julia Hutchinson
01603
411924
Shipfield, Norwich, NR3
4DX.
e-mail :- jules-hutchinson@tiscali.co.uk
If you have a Red Card incident, don't panic - phone Julia as soon as possible, and all will be explained to you....
A very brief report (unofficial) of our AGM held on May 8th 2008, at Pinebanks (for the last time), Norwich
A modest attendance of members were present this year - 17 in all, 4 less than last year. Our President welcomed everyone and thanked those on the council for their help and support over the past year. The Secretary reported that there had been no major problems this year.
The Treasurer reported that we were solvent, in fact we are slightly better off than last year. There was no need to change the subscription rate (£5). However in light of the ever rising cost of fuel, it was agreed to raise the match fee to £15, this is the first increase for some years.
On behalf of the Pool Secretary it was reported that the appointments had gone as well as expected with the limited resources available.
David Rose retired as our President after 3 years and we elected Peter Lemon to the Presidency. Sheila George proposed a vote of thanks for all David's hard work these past 3 yrs.
We are still looking to find a Young Umpire Development Officer.
We welcome Karren Young as our Norfolk Hockey Development Officer (replacing Connie) She is co-ordinating & organising many different training/development courses in the county, the details of which can be found on the web site.
The Membership Secretary reported the association's membership was currently at 300. This includes 66 L1 umpire candidates.
The meeting finished at 9:00pm.
Dates of next Council Meetings 2008/9 season:-
20th November
22nd January
19th March
Date of 2009 AGM - 7th May
Venues at TRF, Norwich. starting at 7:30pm
What is the status of the NHUA?
NHUA is part of the Norfolk Hockey Association. This association is merger from the old Norfolk Women's Hockey Association (NWHA) and the Norfolk County Hockey Association (NCHA). This was the first such merger in the country.
NHUA operates under article 8 in the new constitution of the NHA which states:-
8. Umpires' Administration
This role will be delegated to the Norfolk Hockey Umpiring Association (NHUA) who undertake:-
8.1 To organise umpires for league matches, as appropriate.
8.2 To foster the coaching and development of individual umpires within the county.
8.3 Develop, implement and monitor plans for recruitment, education and assessment of umpires and umpire coaches.
8.4 Formulate and implement a policy for the selection and appointment of umpires to matches within the county and for the county pool.
It is the policy of the NHUA to embrace the principles of Sports Equity (fairness) as defined by Sport England, and to encourage clubs and schools to do so.
We are proud to have pioneered this first such merger of men's and women's umpiring associations in the country! Our example and experiences are now been followed by other counties, at the regional level the men and women have merged to form the East Region Hockey Umpiring Association (ERHUA) - what Norfolk does today the rest do tomorrow! At national level we are now all part of the England Hockey organisation.
All Level-1 umpires in Norfolk have a Level-1 Umpiring Match Record Card. This is so they can show, by recording when and who they umpired during the season, that they are currently ACTIVE. Non-active Level-1 umpires will be removed from the Norfolk Level1 Listing. This has now become a Hockey England National requirement. So it is important that you umpire at least 3 games during the season and send the completed match record card (each Norfolk umpire receives a card on receipt of their subscription to NHUA) to Alan Jones our Level-1 Co-ordinator. We don't think that umpiring 3 games is too big a burden to ask of Level-1s. Many players are qualified but never umpire games. Many Level-1s are very competent umpires and they could easily umpire games in higher leagues if they so wished. It is important to umpire games on a regular basis, rules and more often the interpretation of them, are constantly changing. Umpires (and players) need to keep in touch with how the game is developing. Anyone who fails to complete their 3 games may have to be re-assessed by one of our umpire coaches before they can be put back onto the active list. Only active Level-1 umpires can umpire league games where there is a Level-1 requirement. Ideally NHUA would like an umpire coach to look at all our Level-1s during the season, but we just haven't got the resources. Pool umpires are not part of this scheme, most of them umpire many games during a season and are assessed on a regular basis. If you are interested in becoming an umpire or would like more info - contact Alan Jones, details above. If you loose your card, contact Alan Jones.
A few seasons ago NHUA introduced an umpire grading system. It's obvious that a Level-1 umpire is not necessarily experienced enough to umpire just any game of hockey. Hockey England have just 3 grades of umpire; the Level-1 grade, Level-2 (Level-2 umpires are those who have been selected for East appointments) and Level-3 (National & International umpires). So you can see Level-1 covers a huge range of leagues/playing standards. A 16 year old who has just passed Level-1 one Saturday is very unlikely to be able to umpire a Men's Div 1 game the next Saturday, and what about the umpire with 10 years experience, umpiring 100 games a season! can they be compared to a Level-1 passee? About 90% of all umpires are Level-1 with no distinction made between their capabilities & experience. League rules say that games must be umpired by a suitable Level-1 umpire. What does that mean? An inappropriate appointment does nothing for the game. It drains the umpire's confidence rapidly, the players get upset that their game may be spoilt and so another umpire is 'lost' from Hockey. NHUA have tried to grade all our Level-1 umpires as to what league games they are deemed capable of umpiring - men's or women's or both. Most members were easy to grade as they were already umpiring games in a particular league quite satisfactory. It is very difficult setting the stagger between men's & women's games, some umpires can cope better with the control issues likely to arise in the men's game, others find the slower pace of the women's game means that they loose concentration. But no system is foolproof and the gradings may well have to be tweaked as we go along.
NHUA aims to assess each member whilst umpiring, twice a year. That's quite an ambitious aim. We need to see that standards & consistency are being maintained, who is improving and needs to go onto the East Umpire Development panel.
All NHUA active members have been notified of their grading via the listing on the web site. Anyone who feels that their grading is inaccurate should contact our secretary. No one should umpire a league game they are not graded to do. The appointing club may well lose league points.
A reasonably up-to-date list of NHUA active umpires is available here. This is NOT the definitive list - contact Alan Jones for current information.
Complaints
Please remember, umpires lose money umpiring, even with an £15.00 match fee. The loss is not just financial, people give up a lot of their spare time (most of Saturday and often Sundays too) to travel and umpire games. So bear this in mind when you feel hard done by the umpires. We can't see everything, especially under flood lights and we do make mistakes (often not as many as the players). I'm not making excuses for bad umpiring. If players actually tried to umpire some games they might start to appreciate some of the problems umpires face every game. Civility and hospitality towards to umpires is an issue, many umpires feel they are not appreciated and this is the one main reason given as to why we lose umpires from the pool.
That said there are sometimes problems with umpires and we need to know about it. So please tell us ....
or
Should anyone wish to make a formal complaint about a Norfolk Umpire they should do so in writing, to the secretary (details above).
Funnily enough we don't get many letters praising umpires!!!