The seventh season of the SSCUA began with the holding of its 6th Annual General Meeting on 18 July 2007. The meeting held at the Redfern RSL was attended by 24 of the 47 members holding membership at the time of the AGM. The total membership base of 47 is 10 less than the 57 that held membership as at the end of the previous season.

The drop in membership was due to a memo sent to all inactive members and persons who only umpired one or two games last season asking them to consider what role they were playing for the Association by not being active umpires. The effect was 10 members who between them had only umpired 9 games in the previous year deciding not to renew membership.

At the AGM a few small changes to the Management committee took place. George Richards was elected President for his 3rd term, Jim Shellens filled the role for Vice President for his 1st term while Stephen Blomfield (Secretary) and Gordon Smith (Treasurer) were both re-instated unopposed for their 7th terms in office. Chris Kearney and Trevor Schokman were both re-instated as members on the Management Committee and were joined by Peter Friend and Paul Coleman for their debut season on the committee.

Chris Kearney subsequently resigned his position on the committee as well as his membership of the Association one month after his election. No reason was given for this decision.

At the Annual General Meeting the members unanimously voted to a restructured constitution document that made the rules and regulations of the Association more relevant than the document that had been put together in 2001

The 2007-08 cricket season was one of the wettest and also coolest summers in Sydney for more than 15 years with more days of play washed out this year than the last 6 seasons all put together. Despite this, the season will be recorded as one of the most successful to date based on the following statistics -

* 100% umpire coverage of all days play in First Grade Shires

* 100% umpire coverage of all days play in Frank Gray Shield Matches

* 89% umpire coverage of all days play in Second Grade Shires (a rise of 16%)

* 29% umpire coverage of all days play in Third Grade Shires

(40% of this coverage was Saturday cricket, 60% was Sunday + Finals Series)

* 31% umpire coverage of all days play in Fourth Grade Shires

(All of the above coverage being re-scheduled Sunday cricket + Finals Series)

A positive aspect to the above statistics was that unlike last season we received during the summer a modest flow down of surplus umpires from Sydney Grade Cricket which show that umpire numbers across the board were slightly better than 2006/07

As at the end of the season we had a total of 53 members, a decrease of 4 from last seasons high of 57. During the season we took in 10 new members (8 new applications plus 2 re-joins) while a total of 14 decided to resign or allow their memberships to lapse.

Other Issues this season included -

* Reported Players - 9 (Down from 11 last season)

* Judiciary Matters - Continuation of the process last season seeing all reported players processed within a week of the matter being sent to the SCA

* The Association successfully being funded $2500 from the Federal Government for a small equipment grant. The Association purchased 8 test match standard umpire light meters

* The introduction of the on field umpires polo shirt which saw a near century of tradition put to bed with the abolition of the requirement for umpires to wear a tie.

* Umpire match fees increased from $85 to $100 per day

* Jim Shellens umpired the Shires XI v Churches XI rep match at Bexley Oval in October 2007

* Chris Taylor umpired the Shires XI v Grade XI rep match at the SCG in December 2007

* George Richards, Spencer Harrison, Ivan Holland and Peter Friend umpired their 100th Career Shires Match

* Stephen Blomfield umpired his 150th Career Shires Match

* Peter Friend & Stephen Blomfield appointed to the 1st Grade Grand Final won by Pennant Hills CC

* Jim Shellens & Tony Kingsford Smith appointed to the Frank Gray (Under 24) Grand Final won by Warringah CC

* Bruce Whitehouse took out the umpire of the year award and Richard Christen won the Most improved Umpire of the Year.

* Gordon Smith won the prestigious "Association Medal" at the Annual Dinner of the NSWCU&SA on 12.4.08

* The NSWCU&SA awarded President George Richards an upgrade of his full membership to principle membership. Only Life Membership is a higher honour within the ranks of NSWCU&SA

The sixth season of the SSCUA began with the holding of its 5th Annual General Meeting on 19 July 2006. The meeting held at the Redfern RSL was attended by 21 members of a total of 50 currently at the time holding membership, (a drop of 4 from the previous end season 05/06 tally of 54). For the first time in the Associations short history the management committee from the previous season into the new season was unchanged. George Richards was elected President for his 2nd term, Geoff Taylor filled the role for Vice President while Stephen Blomfield (Secretary) and Gordon Smith (Treasurer) were both re-instated unopposed for their 6th terms in office. Jim Shellens, Chris Kearney, and Trevor Schokman all put their hands up for the general committee positions for the 2nd season in a row.

Membership numbers were up with 57 members on the book up by 3 from the previous season. A turnaround from the previous season saw a slightly improved percentage of members who participated in on field umpiring rather than being non-active. It was pleasing to note this season that we as an Association were able to basically hold steady with the numbers of umpires we provided to the Shires Competition whilst our parent body (NSWCU&SA) who provided umpires to Grade Cricket suffered a mini crisis this season with significant loss of members and available umpires. The result of this drop off in umpires for Grade cricket resulted in many SCA 5th grade games not having umpires at all. A crisis meeting held mid season isolated many issues that needed urgent attention and it is hoped next season some major changes to umpires uniform and match payments will be addressed.

The season saw the reintroduction of the tough wide calls in limited overs matches after a one season trial in 2005/06 relaxing this issue was deemed a failure by the SCA committee of management. This was the only major playing condition change for 2006/07.

On field the Shires Competitions Umpire allocations suffered by receiving zero flow down from Grade cricket due to the rapid decline of Grade Umpires as detailed two paragraphs back. Despite the fact we received no flow down from Grade cricket our allocation rate in second grade cricket actually improved from the previous season from 64% coverage to 73% coverage (1st Grade allocation rate was, as always, 100%). This is testament to the fact that many part time Shires umpires from 2005/06 made themselves available for more matches in 2006/07. A good result.

Other Issues this season included -

* Reported Players - 12 (Up from 11 last season)

* Judiciary Matters - Major Improvement from last season with all matters reports by members attended to within a week of the matter being sent to the SCA

* Improved relations with the SCA saw a system in place where Captains reports were able to be sourced in a far more timely an efficient manner as compared to the previous season

* Chris Kearney umpired the Shires XI v Churches XI rep match at Rothwell Park in February 2007

* Stephen Blomfield umpired the Shires XI v Grade XI rep match at the SCG in December 2006

* Jim Shellens & Gordon Smith umpired their 100th Career Shires Match

* Lack of support from the SCA / Shires Sub Committee / Shires Clubs regarding Umpire recruitment initiatives continue to persist

* Poor attendance by our members at the end of season Shires Presentation dinner (7 members / 3 partners)

* Peter Friend & Chris Taylor appointed to the 1st Grade Grand Final won by South Sydney CC

* Gordon Smith & Ken Buckland appointed to the Frank Gray (Under 24) Grand Final won by Lane Cove CC

* Chris Taylor took out the umpire of the year award for the 2nd year in a row and Trevor Schokman won the Most improved Umpire of the Year.

You can contact us at:

Sydney Shires Cricket Umpires Association

PO Box 3333
Redfern NSW 2016

(02) 9319 3786

Email: shireumpires@iprimus.com.au

If your ground is not located here please send an email via the "Contact Us" link on the main menu.

The fifth season of this Association began with the 4th AGM being held on July 20, again at Redfern RSL. Another one-term President bit the dust, this time it was John Moore citing a desire to do some travelling during a fair percentage of the upcoming summer (half his luck). New President George Richards was elected unopposed and has a stern task ahead of him to see if he can beat the one-term President blues. Not surprisingly Stephen Blomfield and Gordon Smith were again for the 5th year running both elected unopposed as Secretary and Treasurer.

Membership numbers were up with 54 members on the book up by 9 from the previous season. Disappointingly though while membership was up, active on field membership was down. The big innovation of the season was the introduction of bonus points in limited overs matches to compensate teams who were playing "weaker" opponents in these games and unable to obtain outright results. Another significant issue was the fact that the tougher first class version of wides in limited over games was relaxed and reverted back to the laws of cricket wide definition for all Shires matches. This was not received well by the clubs and appears it might only be a one season "experiment" with the old rule likely to be re-instated next season.

On field the Association didnt measure up to its record season last year primarily due to the reduced numbers that were overflowed from Grade panel Umpires referred to us from the NSWCU&SA from week to week. The net result was all First grade games getting umpires as well as an average of 64% of second grade matches receiving umpires during the course of the season (down from 82%). The Association supplied at least one umpire to 363 days of cricket within a competition that conducted 682 days of play. This is a completion rate of 53.22% of days played in the entire 5 competitions conducted in the Shires Association.

Other Issues this season included -

* Reported Players - 11 (Down from 19 last season)

* Judiciary Matters - Regular Delays with most cases not being held in a timely manner

* Gordon Smith umpired the Shires XI v Churches XI rep match at Tantallon Oval in February 2006

* Alan Green umpired the Shires XI v Grade XI rep match at the SCG in March 2006

* Stephen Blomfield & Tom Shiner umpired their 100th Career Shires Match

* Relations between SCA / Shires Sub Committee are weakend due to differences of opinion on numerous administrative matters

* Lack of support from the SCA / Shires Sub Committee / Shires Clubs regarding Umpire recruitment initiatives

* Alan Green & Chris Taylor appointed to the 1st Grade Grand Final won by Burwood Briars CC

* Brett Osseweyer & Glenn Roche appointed to the Frank Gray (Under 24)Grand Final won by Epping CC

* Chris Taylor took out the umpire of the year award and Chris Kearney won the Most improved Umpire of the Year.

The Association’s 3rd Annual General Meeting was again conducted at Redfern RSL Club, this time on July 14. After only one season in the Presidents Chair, Bruce Parfett made way for John Moore, citing a desire to move away from umpiring in the Shires competition in favour of having a crack at Grade Cricket. The meeting wished Bruce well on his new adventure. For the 4th season running both the Secretary and Treasurer remained unchanged. Membership numbers pre-season were solid and the season’s end membership tally stood at a record 45, an increase of two on the previous year. During the season eight new members joined and actively umpired while we lost six members to Grade cricket, retirement or non renewal. After a long period of many seasons where two day games didn't have enough time to get through the minimum required overs by the scheduled close of play at 6pm, the SCA finally made amendments to playing conditions allowing a days play to average out at a more sensible and achievable 16 overs per hour. For the first time in many years the majority of matches were now finishing on or shortly after 6pm rather than dragging on into the evening. On the field the Association had its best season on record due to strong membership numbers as well as a large overflow of Grade members being referred to us from the NSWCU&SA from week to week. The net result was all First grade games getting umpires as well as an average of 82% of second grade matches receiving umpires during the course of the season. It was a great result that was certainly noticed and appreciated by players and captains alike participating in Shires Seconds. Also on the positive side the Association supplied at least one umpire to 425 days of cricket within a competition that conducted 747 days of play. This is a completion rate of 56.89% of days played in the entire 5 competitions conducted in the Shires Association. This was a fantastic improvement on previous seasons, which have all been less than 50%. Unfortunately, on the downside, Shires suffered its worst season ever for player behaviour, which saw the numbers of Shires players reported to the SCA Judiciary increase from 6 to 19. A worrying trend. Also during the season, three of our members received appointments to representative matches. Peter Friend stepped in when Alan Green fell ill to appendicitis and officiated in the Annual Shires XI Vs Grade XI match at the SCG, which was won handsomely by the Shires lads. Chris Taylor umpired the Shires XI Vs Churches XI match at Mona Park, whilst Brett Osseweyer received an appointment to the inaugural Shires XI Vs Sydney Districts XI match at Alan Davidson Oval. John Moore was appointed to his third First Grade Grand Final in a row and partnered Alan Green on this occasion, where Strathfield CC took out the title also for the third consecutive season. Robin Gandevia and Brett Osseweyer were the appointed members to the Frank Gray (Under 24) Grand Final, won by Warringah CC. Stephen Blomfield took out the umpire of the year award and Geoff Taylor won the inaugural Most improved Umpire of the Year. Season 2004/05 was acknowledged by all and sundry to be a great success with hopefully more to come.

The second Annual General Meeting of the Association kicked off proceedings for season 2003/04 on July 23. A new venue was found for this meeting, being Redfern RSL Club. This venue would become a permanent fixture for meetings for many seasons to come. Peter Turner, who had led us for the first two seasons, stepped down from the role of President, with Bruce Parfett being elected in this role. Both Stephen Blomfield and Gordon Smith were for the 3rd season running elected unopposed in the Secretary and Treasurer positions. Pre season numbers for the upcoming season were not great, and a repeat performance of the previous season looked likely. The Association undertook an aggressive advertising campaign asking local community-based newspapers around Sydney to write a story about us in their sports section. The net result was about a dozen enquiries from people who wanted to become umpires or those wishing to resume an umpiring career from the past. After running a special course for these people at Redfern RSL we were lucky to pick up seven new members. Adding these new members into our Association created a scenario where we had a good season overall , probably not as good as year one but certainly better than year two. All 1st Grade games got umpires and we averaged about two or three 2nd grade matches from week to week. Some surplus umpires from Grade cricket from time to time also helped out although this assistance was very spasmodic. On January 3, 2004 Shires cricket had a week off while Grade cricket played a limited overs fixture. As many as ten of our members were appointed to Grade matches that date to fill a shortfall that was created by severe unavailability of Graded umpires on that day (a date which just happened to be the day a test match was being played at the SCG). Also during the season three of our members received appointments to representative matches. Bruce Parfett officiated in the Annual Shires XI Vs Grade XI match at the SCG. Peter Friend umpired the inaugural Shires XI Vs Churches XI match at Lindfield Oval, whilst Gordon Smith received an appointment to a three-day test match involving Australia Deaf v England Deaf at Uni of Sydney #1 Oval. Bruce Parfett won his third 1st Grade Grand final appointment in a row and was partnered by John Moore who was standing in this match for his second year in a row. The match was won by Strathfield CC, after the game finished in a drawn no-result when the second days play was washed out. Bruce Parfett and Robin Gandevia won the appointment to the Frank Gray Final and the umpire of the year was awarded to John Moore. The year finished on a high with a record number of 43 persons holding membership of the Association.

2002/03 kicked off in July 2002 with the Association holding its very first Annual General Meeting at South Sydney Leagues Club on July 31. Peter Turner, Stephen Blomfield and Gordon Smith were all returned to their respective positions from season 2001/02. A significant event prior to the season was the SCA's decision to promote the Blacktown Shires CC to fill the 20th spot that was left vacant when the Randwick and Petersham Grade clubs merged in the previous season. This meant the number of umpires required for Grade cricket each weekend went back up to 100 (instead of 90). This would have some severe ramifications for our Association with the number of members leaving our Association for varying reasons far exceeding the numbers of new members who joined us. On the field we struggled on some weekends to have enough umpires simply to cover 1st Grade, but we coped, just. Obviously 2nd Grade Shires, which had been getting about 40-50% of its matches with umpire coverage in 2001/02, suffered badly and it was rare to see enough umpires available to give 2nd Grade coverage to anymore than 1 or 2 matches at best. The gap that had been left with the exit of Blacktown CC to Grade Cricket was hastily filled by a new club in the Liverpool area, which was to be known as Southern Districts CC. The finals series again went well and umpires Bruce Parfett and John Moore were appointed to the 1st Grade Grand Final won by Strathfield CC. Bruce Parfett and George Richards won the appointment for the Frank Gray (Under 24's) Grand Final. Bruce Parfett capped off a second, stellar season by winning the Umpire of the Year award for the second season running.

2001/02 kicked off wildly exceeding everybody’s expectations. Armed with the "original 13" as well as another 12 or 13 members referred to Shires by Peter Hughes at the NSWCU&SA, season one was a runaway success with all 1st Grade games getting umpires every match and about 40-50% of 2nd Grade matches also getting umpires, with the number of members available each weekend averaging around twenty to twenty-two. In January 2002, twenty-one members of the Association met at the South Sydney Graphic Arts Club in Mascot and held a meeting at which the Sydney Shires Cricket Umpires Association was officially formed. At this meeting Peter Turner was formally voted in as Association President, Stephen Blomfield as Honorary Secretary and Appointments Officer, and Gordon Smith as Treasurer. There was a total of 31 umpires registered for membership in this season, although quite a number of these members only umpired a few games or decided to be inactive. A membership levy of $10 per member was struck in the first season and the NSWCU&SA kindly elected to donate a sum of money, totaling $310, to pay for each member in this inaugural season. Also during this season, for the first time ever, a group of umpires solely dedicated to officiate in Shires matches were allowed to umpire finals series matches, rather than having Grade umpires fill this role. Bruce Parfett and Stuart Yeend were the first two Shires umpires to officiate in a Shires 1st Grade Grand Final, this match being won by the Lindfield Club. These two members were also appointed to the Frank Gray (Under 24's) Grand Final. The Inaugural Umpire of the Year award was taken out by Bruce Parfett.

The Sydney Shires Cricket Competition (formerly known as Municipal and Shires) was founded in 1923 and its main function has always been as an alternative competition to the Sydney Grade Competition, both of which are conducted in the metropolitan suburbs of Sydney.

Although many over the years have viewed Shires Cricket as a second tier competition to Sydney Grade Cricket, it is now widely acknowledged that the standard of play in Shires extensively crosses over with Grade Cricket. Many now agree that Shires First Grade is equivalent in standard to play conducted in SCA Second Grade Cricket.

Shires cricket began in 1923, initially as a one-grade competition. In 1928 a second grade was added to the competition, with the terms "A" Division and "B" Division used to differentiate between the two grades. The competition continued in this format, right through until 1957, at which time a "C" Division was created. Further expansion in 1982 saw the competition extend to a "D" Division. Finally in 1987 the competition saw the need to create a subsidiary competition, to be played as limited overs matches on selected Sundays, for players under the age of 24. Initially this competition was restricted to five Sunday rounds but it has since been extended to seven. This competition was named "The Frank Gray Shield". In 1993 the phrasing of "A" to "D" to describe teams rankings was changed to 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade Shires.

The structure of cricket in Sydney has always revolved around the Sydney Grade Competition and its governing body, the Sydney Cricket Association (SCA). The SCA has also been the governing body for the Shires competition.

The charter of the SCA through the ages has been to ensure that all available umpires from the NSW Cricket Umpires and Scorers Association are allocated firstly to Grade Cricket (Grades 1 thru 5) and then to Shires cricket.

People I have spoken to who played Shires Cricket as far back as the 1940's and as recently as the late 1980's have all told me that they rarely saw umpires even in "A" Division Shires and that the only time an umpire appeared in Shires cricket was in semi and grand finals. The NSW Cricket Umpires and Scorers Association during these years tended never to have enough active members to cover all Sydney Grade matches, let alone Shires ones. Come finals time, however, Shires was graced with umpires’ attendances due to the reduced number of Grade fixtures requiring umpires for those weekends.

And so for as long as most Shires people remember, games in this competition were conducted with players from the batting team having to adjudicate match decisions on the opponents in the field and on their own team-mates who were batting. This of course was not always a healthy way of playing cricket, with decision making sometimes being somewhat questionable, to say the least!

During the late 1980's the numbers of available umpires from the NSW Cricket Umpires and Scorers Association grew and some limited numbers of Shires "A" Division matches (then renamed to Shires 1st Grade) began obtaining the services of umpires. At some point during this era (probably in 1989) a decision was reached by the Sydney Cricket Association that saw the NSW Cricket Umpires and Scorers Association asked to allocate umpires to Shires 1st Grade games ahead of SCA 5th Grade matches. The reasoning, of course, behind this decision was that Shires First Grade was of a much higher standard than SCA 5th Grade.

Under this new policy the 1990's saw most Shires 1st Grade games get umpires from the NSW Cricket Umpires and Scorers Association on a week-to-week basis. Whilst this was seen as a better alternative to not having any umpires at all, some clubs raised concern that the quality of umpires being supplied was quite poor for the standard of cricket being played, and that these umpires were seen as being at the bottom of the pecking order. It was during these years that the then President of the Lindfield CC, Stirling Hamman, started to promote the concept that it would be a better idea if the Shires competition started up its own Umpires Association. In those years, however, there was little support for this concept, and although there was plenty of talk about this idea in club committee rooms, no real action was ever put into place to see this idea come to fruition.

The month leading up to the start of the 2000/2001 season produced a number of watershed moments in the history of the Shires competition.

The recently introduced Laws of Cricket (2000 Code) saw the numbers of umpire applicants for the upcoming season plummet to its lowest level since 1987. Registrations of available umpires for the upcoming season had decreased so significantly from the previous one and there was a very real possibility that a significant number of SCA 5th Grade matches may at times have one or even no umpires appointed to them. To counteract this, a decision was made, without consultation with the Shires clubs, by the SCA Committee of Management, chaired by Noel Laming, to overturn the previous policy of appointing umpires to Shires 1st Grade ahead of SCA 5th Grade. This decision caused much concern, anger and resentment amongst Shire Clubs at the time.

As was probably expected, Season 2000/2001 kicked off in not so grand fashion. With the majority of Shires 1st Grade matches having to revert back to player umpires for the first time in nearly a decade an increased number of matches ended in unsavoury disputes with arguments and disagreements taking place on the field over the poor quality of umpiring and the lack of honesty shown in decision making by players having to adjudicate on their own team mates. The matter however came to a head in the now infamous Round 3 fixture played at Lance Hutchinson Oval where Canterbury Bexley had hosted Warringah on day 1 without official umpires. On day 2 without any pre-notice both teams were presented with a scenario where official umpires had arrived to take control of the days play. Having played without umpires on day 1 captain Steve Luc from Canterbury Bexley insisted that the match should not have umpires on day 2 to keep the consistency from day 1 to day 2 where players from the batting side did the umpiring. Geoff Tucker the Warringah captain agreed with this request and both captains asked the umpires to go home. The umpires duly agreed but then reported the captains to the SCA who promptly filed a code of conduct report against both players and requested they explain their actions in front of the Judiciary. Following the incidents that arose from this game it was finally decided by those on the Shires Competition Sub Committee that a decision had to be made to re-explore the idea of a dedicated Umpires Association for Shires Cricket.

Initially there was some resistance to this idea, as some Shires Clubs believed that this initiative was letting the SCA off the hook in its duty to ensure there were enough umpires to cater to Grade AND Shires cricket. In fact some Shires Clubs still believed that they had a chance of convincing the SCA Committee of Management to go back on its previous decision to appoint umpires to SCA 5th Grade before Shires 1st Grade.

While all this was happening Stirling Hamman was talking up his ideas, within the Shires community, that a Shires Umpires Panel would be a viable option. It was during this time he approached Peter Turner and asked him if he would be prepared to help out getting a Shires Umpires Panel off the ground. Peter had been a long time player at Lindfield CC and had just finished a short umpiring career in Grade Cricket. When Stirling heard that Peter had decided not to umpire in SCA Grade Cricket in 2000/2001, he jumped on the opportunity calling in a favour with Peter, who agreed in theory to try to put together a group of umpires who would dedicate themselves to officiate solely in Shires.

By mid November 2000 it was obvious that the numbers of available umpires for the season were not going to improve and the decision by the SCA Committee of Management, whereby umpires had to be appointed to SCA 5th Grade games ahead of Shires 1st Grade, was not going to be reversed despite some extremely heated committee meetings being held on the topic.

A call was made to all Shires Clubs by the Shires Competition Sub Committee that anybody who wished to "volunteer" to umpire should contact Peter Turner, who would arrange for volunteers to be distributed to as many Shires 1st Grade games as possible. Besides this call for volunteers Peter Turner managed to acquire the services of a small number of accredited umpires who had either recently retired from SCA Grade Cricket or who had expressed an interest in only umpiring in Shires Cricket.

Some of these volunteers and recently retired grade umpires were allocated by Peter to vacant Shires 1st Grade games from late November 2000. By January 2001 the very small numbers that overflowed from Grade cricket were now being allocated to Shires 2nd Grade by Peter Hughes from the NSWCU&SA, with the allocation of 1st Grade Shires being left solely to Peter Turner. Peter did however have the option to "call up" grade umpires allocated to Shires 2nd Grade to fill gaps in Shires 1st Grade. This process was then used for the remainder of that season, with between six and eight "Shires Umpires" officiating on top of any miniscule overflow from the grade competition.

During the off-season, the Shires Clubs finally conceded and agreed to formally support the establishment of a Shires Umpires Association affiliated with the NSW body. In July 2001, with a green light given to see if a group of interested persons might want to join an official Shires Umpires Group, a meeting was held at the Briars Club in Burwood. Peter Turner who organised this meeting was in attendance. The meeting turned out to be a bit of a disaster, with the only other attendees being Stephen Blomfield (a recently retired player from Auburn CC), Bruce Parfett and Ivan Holland (both with contacts at Epping CC), Ragoo Rajogopalan and Tom Shiner (both accredited umpires). The poor attendance (over 50 invitations to various parties had been extended) almost spelt the death of the idea, with some of the attendees expressing the opinion that it might not be worth the effort. Not discouraged, Stephen Blomfield agreed to temporarily take on the role of a Secretary and would spend the next few months making phone calls to a list of umpires that Peter Turner had provided him.

This initial list contained the names of some umpires who, in the previous season, had umpired exclusively in Shires, as well as the names of some umpires recently retired from Grade Cricket. Initial expectations with the poor attendance of the July meeting indicated that the Shires Competition would be lucky in the coming season to obtain the services of enough umpires to maybe at best cover 50% of 1st Grade matches each week. A lot of phone calls and a lot of mail-outs later it was decided to plough on and see what would transpire.

By late August 2001 Stephen Blomfield had managed to acquire a commitment from 13 people who had agreed that they would like to participate as umpires only in the Shires competition. This was only one person short of the 14 that would be needed to completely fill all 1st Grade Shires matches with 2 umpires each Saturday. It was at this time that Stephen then began to regularly liaise with Peter Hughes, from the NSWCU&SA, who was the appointments officer for Grade cricket. Peter had always indicated his support for the setting up of an Umpires Association dedicated to the Shires competition and was keen for this new concept to work. Fortunately for both Peter and Stephen something happened in the months leading up to the start of the 2001/02 season that would benefit the number of umpires that would be made available to Shires Cricket in the new season. Firstly, the Petersham and Randwick Grade Cricket Clubs had agreed to merge for the upcoming season. This meant that Grade cricket in Sydney was reduced from 20 to 19 clubs and a bye would need to be installed into the competition. This of course meant that the number of games in SCA Grade Cricket was reduced from 10 to 9 matches per grade per round. The resulting benefit was that Peter Hughes was now only required to supply 90 umpires to Grade Cricket each week instead of the previous seasons 100. This meant that Peter needed to register 10 less members for Grade Cricket in 2001/02 and the 10 members that didn't make the final cut were asked to join the newly formed Shires Umpires Association for the season.

At last a group of umpires just for the Shires competition was a reality.