Season 2010/11 was fondly remembered by all as the year we celebrated 10 years of existence as the Sydney Shires Cricket Umpires Association

The season commenced at The Technology Park Hotel in Alexandria on 14 July 2010 with the holding of the Association's 9th Annual general meeting. A total of 36 members attended the evening from a total membership at the time which tallied 77. Guests in attendance were Graham Chudleigh representing the board of NSWCU&SA as well as Darrell Hair, Executive Officer NSWCU&SA.

At the AGM, Peter Friend was returned as chairman for his third season while Stephen Blomfield was elected for his 10th season in the role of Honorary Secretary. After 9 years in the role Gordon Smith stood down as Treasurer and was replaced by Mike Wheeler. Jim Shellens maintained the Vice President role. Others re-elected to the committee of management were Trevor Schokman & Mark Hughes while Stuart Wood and Chris Williams were newly added into the committee. Chris however failed to show up for all committee meetings bar one at the start of the season and by Christmas time was released from his position by the committee. John Moore from the previous season's committee did not seek re-election for 2010/11

The 10th anniversary was celebrated in a number of ways. Members were supplied with a number of items free of charge including an Association baseball cap, a personalised on field note book with each members name and membership number embossed on it, as well as a green short sleeve polo shirt for wear to and from matches. Members were also offered a 50% discount on the purchase of the blue field shirt and at the end of the season we celebrated with a all you can eat 4 course buffet dinner at a German Restaurant in the city with all members receiving a generous subsidy on the price for the function only having to pay $20 a head.

Another part of the anniversary celebration was the production of a full colour and professionally printed annual report which included an extended statistics section at the back to record the names and achievements of all members past and present over the 10 years of the Association's history

On Saturday February 5, 2011 the Association conducted its 10th Anniversary Round of cricket, a round where we asked all members to be available on the same day in an effort to cover all available 56 umpire appointments over all 4 grades. We just scrapped in with exactly 56 members being able to umpire Shire cricket on the same day without us requiring assistance from any spare umpires from Grade cricket. This was a first that we were all very proud of.

A modest increase in membership in 2010/11 saw us finish the season with a record number of 87 members, up 5 from the previous seasons tally of 82. A disappointing aspect of the membership count was the number of members who were inactive during the season. Particularly frustrating were the 3 new members who joined the Association and then failed to umpire any games at all. It makes you wonder !

This season the number of shires matches that were supplied umpires was almost identical to the previous 2009/10 season. The only difference this year was that more of our members umpired more matches which offset the reduced number of surplus umpires that were available from the Sydney Grade competition. The number of surplus umpires from Grade cricket suffered a disturbing 80% drop in 2010/11 as opposed to 2009/10. We hope these numbers can improve in 2011/12

Statistics from the 2010/11 season read as follows -

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

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

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

* 95% umpire coverage of all days play in Third Grade Shires

* 40% umpire coverage of all days play in Fourth Grade Shires

Other Issues this season included -

* Changing the on field uniform to allow the wearing of the blue field shirt in all Shires matches rather than just in limited over fixtures

* Umpire match fees were raised from $105 per day to $110 per day after the previous season not experiencing an increase

* The introduction a round of 20/20 cricket into the Saturday competition during Round 8 played as the last game before the Christmas break

* Jim Shellens umpired the Shires XI v Grade XI rep match at the Sydney Cricket Ground on 18 February 2011

* Stephen Blomfield umpired his 250th Career Shires Match when umpiring the Frank Gray Shield Final

* Members Ken Buckland & Mark Hughes who umpire in Sydney grade cricket were elevated to the 1st Grade panel for the season.

* Darren Goodger has another season in Grade 1st Grade and was appointed to the 1st Grade Final as well as the Green Shield and Poidevin Gray Finals

* Jim Shellens umpired his 200th Career Shires Match just prior to Christmas

* Michael Roberts, Mike Wheeler, Geoff Wheeler, Brett Tribolet, Trevor Parker, Patrick Smellie, & Mark Hughes all passed 50 Career Shires Matches during the season

* Peter Mooney & Brett Tribolet were appointed to the 1st Grade Grand Final won by Strathfield CC played at Blacktown Olympic Park # 1

* Stephen Blomfield & Chris Taylor were appointed to the Frank Gray (Under 24) Grand Final won by Warringah CC played at Alan Davidson Oval

* Brett Tribolet won the umpire of the year award for the first time. Ian Bowman took out the most improved umpire of the year award, while Aaron Vella won the Rookie Umpire of the Year award

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

or email us at

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.