Bad Umpires should be disciplined

THE EDITOR: Australia’s tour of the Caribbean is now over. Congratulations go out to both teams for providing us cricket fans with some fantastic cricket. Australia won both the Test series 3-1 and the one day series 4-3.

I would like to comment briefly on the umpiring department in both versions of the game. Umpires make wrong decisions from time to time. They are all human and no one is perfect. This is the era when modern technology is much advanced. Why is that punishment is only meted out to players and not umpires? Who are on the so-called elite panel? Players who show dissent after being dismissed, or any form of unsportsman like behaviour on or off the field of play are punished by the match referee. They are fined a percentage of thematch fee. In some instances they are even reported to the International Cricket Council (ICC) which is based in London, England for further disciplinary action.

In my personal opinion, umpires who are on the elite panel and who make too many wrong decisions should be debarred from umpiring in at least three matches.  FIFA, the soccer world governing body, punishes referees when they make certain errors on the field of play. One can remember that very infamous World Cup qualifying match involving TT and Haiti in 1973 where the referee was banned for life. I can also recall an incident in a match during the World Cup soccer tournament in France involving Italy and Chile, where the referee who was from Kuwait, awarded a penalty in the dying minutes of the game. The match ended in a 2-2 draw. Chile should have won the match 2-1. This match was played at the Star Velodrome in Marseille. FIFA intervened and he was immediately expelled from taking any further part in the tournament.

To Brian Lara, the captain of the WI Cricket team, congratulations on winning three consecutive one day matches against the Aussies, “the World Champions.” The one day series against the visiting Sri Lanka has already been lost. Good luck in the Test series. Hope to see some improvement in the umpiring department.

RICKIE ELDER
San Juan