The experiment giving umpires the power to send off abusive players was monitored in three ECB premier leagues during 2016, and the result proved so impressive that change in the Laws seem inevitable.
The leagues of Hertfordshire, Home Counties and Bradford - alongside the MCC-sponsored universities and a few schools - agreed to arm their umpires with the power to caution and in extreme cases to send off abusive players, and all three leagues noted that on-field behaviour improved markedly, writes Charles Randall.
Mark Williams, a member of the MCC Laws panel, said each league reported they were strongly in favour of continuing the system and regarded removing the ‘card’ sanction as a “step backwards”.
No level three or four transgressions such as violent behaviour, which would trigger a sending-off, were recorded during the summer. Williams said: “The key was that the players, umpires and captains were aware. There was banter about sending-off and so on, but nobody crossed the line.
“One umpire told me about one player in the Bradford League who never used to shut up during a game, but he didn’t say a single word all afternoon. This is an example of players realising there could be consequences for what they do.”
The important point has been made many times that cricket remains the only sport where serious misdemeanor cannot be dealt with on the field. Even though sanctions can be imposed afterwards - perhaps suspension by the player’s club - violence cannot be punished immediately. For example, a bowler could spit at the umpire and simply continue with his over. Sadly that actually happened.
A brutal, embarrassing exposure of a cricket umpire’s vulnerability was broadcast by Radio 5 Live in November. The mainstream Sunday programme 5 Live Investigates, hosted by Adrian Goldberg, used recent research by Portsmouth University, based on a survey among 763 umpires. About half of the umpires said they had been verbally abused at least twice a season, and no fewer than 21 respondents disclosed they had been physically attacked, a shocking number.
Diminishing enjoyment and abuse were cited as the two main reasons - no doubt connected in many cases - why umpires decide to stop. Nick Cousins, head of the England and Wales Cricket Board Association of Cricket Officials, said: "The game cannot afford to lose these people. If we are being told that large numbers of them are considering giving up the game because of increasing amounts of player abuse, then the one thing we can't do is nothing.”
The Portsmouth research by two professors, Dr Tom Webb and Dr Mike Rayner, looked at cricket after conducting studies into football and rugby, and their findings even attracted the attention of the Daily Telegraph, not usually noted for bothering with recreational cricket. Dr Webb was quoted as saying: “The results were something we would not have expected of cricket. To see such high numbers being verbally abused was surprising and, although the physical abuse was around three per cent, that still surprised me, as I didn’t expect there to be any at all. It is worrying."
Dr Webb, a senior lecturer in sports management, added: "Participation in sport generally is not that great, and it will only get lower if you are forcing these volunteer officials out. The sense was that umpires do need some form of disciplinary recourse during the game, as they do in other sports, or it will get worse.”
The MCC issued a “training document” for umpires and players early in 2016 before the trial that gave umpires penalty-run and sending-off power to deal with bad behaviour. Changes to the Laws could be considered in October 2017 after last summer’s experiment and “positive” trials in New Zealand.
To assess the effects in the 2016 trial the MCC panel wanted different penalties to be applied in different environments. The ECB’s Code of Conduct Levels of 1 to 4 was used as a guide to what behaviour constituted what level of breach, with some minor alterations. Cricketing offences such as the time wasting by the batting or fielding side (Level 1) were removed so that the offences were entirely focused on player behaviour.
The leagues of Hertfordshire, Home Counties and Bradford - alongside the MCC-sponsored universities and a few schools - agreed to arm their umpires with the power to caution and in extreme cases to send off abusive players, and all three leagues noted that on-field behaviour improved markedly, writes Charles Randall.
Mark Williams, a member of the MCC Laws panel, said each league reported they were strongly in favour of continuing the system and regarded removing the ‘card’ sanction as a “step backwards”.
No level three or four transgressions such as violent behaviour, which would trigger a sending-off, were recorded during the summer. Williams said: “The key was that the players, umpires and captains were aware. There was banter about sending-off and so on, but nobody crossed the line.
“One umpire told me about one player in the Bradford League who never used to shut up during a game, but he didn’t say a single word all afternoon. This is an example of players realising there could be consequences for what they do.”
The important point has been made many times that cricket remains the only sport where serious misdemeanor cannot be dealt with on the field. Even though sanctions can be imposed afterwards - perhaps suspension by the player’s club - violence cannot be punished immediately. For example, a bowler could spit at the umpire and simply continue with his over. Sadly that actually happened.
A brutal, embarrassing exposure of a cricket umpire’s vulnerability was broadcast by Radio 5 Live in November. The mainstream Sunday programme 5 Live Investigates, hosted by Adrian Goldberg, used recent research by Portsmouth University, based on a survey among 763 umpires. About half of the umpires said they had been verbally abused at least twice a season, and no fewer than 21 respondents disclosed they had been physically attacked, a shocking number.
Diminishing enjoyment and abuse were cited as the two main reasons - no doubt connected in many cases - why umpires decide to stop. Nick Cousins, head of the England and Wales Cricket Board Association of Cricket Officials, said: "The game cannot afford to lose these people. If we are being told that large numbers of them are considering giving up the game because of increasing amounts of player abuse, then the one thing we can't do is nothing.”
The Portsmouth research by two professors, Dr Tom Webb and Dr Mike Rayner, looked at cricket after conducting studies into football and rugby, and their findings even attracted the attention of the Daily Telegraph, not usually noted for bothering with recreational cricket. Dr Webb was quoted as saying: “The results were something we would not have expected of cricket. To see such high numbers being verbally abused was surprising and, although the physical abuse was around three per cent, that still surprised me, as I didn’t expect there to be any at all. It is worrying."
Dr Webb, a senior lecturer in sports management, added: "Participation in sport generally is not that great, and it will only get lower if you are forcing these volunteer officials out. The sense was that umpires do need some form of disciplinary recourse during the game, as they do in other sports, or it will get worse.”
The MCC issued a “training document” for umpires and players early in 2016 before the trial that gave umpires penalty-run and sending-off power to deal with bad behaviour. Changes to the Laws could be considered in October 2017 after last summer’s experiment and “positive” trials in New Zealand.
To assess the effects in the 2016 trial the MCC panel wanted different penalties to be applied in different environments. The ECB’s Code of Conduct Levels of 1 to 4 was used as a guide to what behaviour constituted what level of breach, with some minor alterations. Cricketing offences such as the time wasting by the batting or fielding side (Level 1) were removed so that the offences were entirely focused on player behaviour.
