European Blues: Getting my first chance to umpire outside the UK
The start of my umpiring career was with the Trojans and it blossomed from there. My first season I was picked to do the British Championships in Brighton. It was an honour to be picked as only the best umpires in England are chosen to do this tournament.
I had to get familiar with the three-man system quickly, as we generally only used one or two umpires up north. I wasn’t phased though, after being in the game as long as I had I was used to holding down different positions as a player and manager, and now as an umpire!
The three-man system was the mirrored of the 2-man system basically. I had 1st base the first game and had no problem with the different positions. The second game was behind the plate, which suited me because I had done most of my umping there. My third game was at third base and at first, I was confused as to which ump did what, but a few innings in it was like water off a duck’s back. The final was a different story though.
An hour before the game Jake Pleith and Ed Edsall took me in the stands and gave me a crash course on the four man system. It took them a good hour and thank goodness I paid attention. I had 3 calls as a 2nd base umpire and I think I nailed them all. So, by the end of the tournament I was proficient in all 4 umpiring positions. This would benefit me in the future of my umpire career.
Another first that year was my being picked to umpire a CEB tournament in Belgium. Mike Morse was down to umpire it but was unavailable. I was the alternate to go, so off to beautiful Belgium I went.
It was going to be strange to work with umpires from different countries as I was unsure of the training they received in their own country. The UK had an intensive training program for umpires delivered by umpires who had attended the Jim Evans clinic. I found out later in my International career that some of these foreign umpires don’t have training programs and are self-taught. So, I was going to have to help when I could, in other words I had to do my position and keep an eye on someone else’s.
Lucky, I had Blaise Larde from Sweden, and Bill McCarthy, an American working in Ireland, on my first game. These two were experienced umpires and both did an outstanding job. I had the plate and the other two did a great job keeping me on my game.
The second game I was not working and got a chance to watch the other umpires work. Some of them, especially the Belgium umpires, were knowledgeable of the game and called a superb game. A lot of umpires who have days off go off sightseeing, but I was told by Jake and Ed to go to the ground and help out the other umps anyway I could. After all, the way you conduct yourself off the field reflects back to the powers that be, and could be a big factor on whether or not I got picked again. So, I paid attention to the umpires on what they were doing, gave water to the umps as required, and luckily, I did not have to relieve any umps because of injury. I must have done something right as I was picked 7 more times to officiate on CEB International Tournaments.