Association of Cricket Officials Issue 28 | Page 17
Redfern Leads By Example
ECB ACO was delighted to hear that one of our female members, Sue Redfern, was
appointed to stand in the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifying series in Sri Lanka.
We caught up with Sue to hear about her umpiring career so far, and what it was
like to be on the big stage.
Your journey so far
After playing cricket for England I
remained in the game playing
recreational cricket at club and county
level. In 2012 I realised my cricket
wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be and
I couldn’t perform to the level I wanted,
so I made the decision to stop playing.
Being involved for 25 years, I didn’t
want to just stop being involved, so
considered roles that interested me in
the game. Umpiring was the obvious
choice for me – on field, involved and
making a direct impact in the game
that has given me so much. Once I took
my first qualification at my local county
Warwickshire, I was given panel
appointments in the Warwickshire
Cricket League and also stood in
Premier League women’s fixtures. After
the first season I applied to become a
panel member in the Birmingham and
District Premier League. Most of my
umpiring is now in men’s cricket. I have
continued to take additional
qualifications and was lucky enough
to be given opportunities to officiate
internationally through a female umpire
programme to encourage female
umpires leading up to the Women’s
World Cup.
What have you done to reach this
point?
A balance of education and personal
development blended with experience
on field and support through
mentors/colleagues. It’s absolutely
essential I place myself outside my
comfort zone to learn new things and
see how I react in different situations
and match environments. When you
are an umpire, much like a player, you
keep learning every game you are
involved in. You want to learn from
people, ask questions and have to
deal with things on field and make
split-second decisions. I’ve had to really
evaluate myself and look critically at
how I have performed or reacted to
things. I also tutor new umpires, which
gives me a challenge in supporting
colleagues but guiding them through
fieldcraft questions and actual
interpretations of the laws – all good
things for my own performance.
What was your match day preparation
in Sri Lanka like and how was it
different?
The actual match day experience is
similar to any match/tournament – the
difference might be working with a
third umpire and tournament referee –
making sure communication is spot on.
Pre match day is also about learning
and interpreting the Laws and
regulations, and ensuring the process
is correct in terms of managing the
match and any match reporting. In a
tournament with multiple matches
and colleagues, ensuring consistency
is critical and making sure
communication is there to support all
your colleagues. Additionally, being
away from home and effectively a
full-time umpire for the period you are
away is something you have to deal
with – the team becomes your ‘go to’
people and your extended family. It’s
not just about on-field relationships but
spending time with colleagues off field
too. Making sure you remain well
through a tour is important too – as
one umpire down puts pressure on
your colleagues – so diet, fitness and
rest is critical.
Any advice for aspiring female
umpires?
Simply, if you think you want to have a
go, do it…don’t think you can’t. Don’t
be restricted to certain matches. Find
people in your network who will help
you and surround yourself with people
who will support you. Make the most of
working with colleagues and ask
questions and learn from them. Don’t
worry about past playing experience.
Umpires come from a variety of
backgrounds, from parents to
volunteers, to players. Finally, don’t
worry too much about decisions – we
are human and we will sometimes get
things wrong. Don’t take it to heart,
learn from it and work hard to
understand why mistakes were made –
don’t beat yourself up over it. I spent
my first couple of years doubting some
decisions and worrying. Park your
thoughts until after the match and then
reflect on your performance properly
to improve.
What are you wanting to achieve in
2017?
Focusing game by game, making my
routines as consistent as possible and
implementing my goals in game. You
can’t think too far ahead as every
match, every ball and every decision is
important – so I just want to perform
well in each match and learn
throughout the year. Obviously I’d be
lying if I said I didn’t want to be part of
the World Cup, but this is something I
cannot control – my own performances
I can – so that’s where I will focus. I’m
also midway through my Level 3
qualification so I want to complete
this through a dissertation-type
presentation to my peers on an
umpire-relate d subject.
A general day-to-day diary
Being away is very much full on –
throughout Sri Lanka it was either one
or two days’ cricket then a day off –
there were never two consecutive days
off. I arrived in Sri Lanka late evening
and the very next day I was in a full
day’s regulations workshop. Following
this, the next day was a warm-up
game, then there was a day off before
the tournament started.
Days on – early wake up, leaving the
hotel and aiming to be at the ground
one-and-a-half/two hours in advance
of the game. Familiarisation and
ground checks, post-match there
would be a mini team review then a
post-day full team meeting in the hotel
sharing the day’s events from each of
the matches. With the timings they
were pretty much 7.15am–9pm days.
Days off varied, but all the team
contributed to organising something
either touristy or just relaxing – we
managed to sightsee and some of us
socialised around the hotel/local area.
We did a couple of full team trips – one
to Galle to see the fort, another to visit
the elephant orphanage, and we went
to Kandy to visit the Temple of the
Tooth (sacred Buddhist temple). We
also went to the beach, shopping and
had meals together.
ECB ACO is committed to not only training more female officials but also developing our current crop, helping them reach
their full potential as umpires or scorers. 2017 is a huge year for women’s cricket in England, with the best eight teams in
the world competing in the Women’s World Cup. We are hopeful that this event will help inspire people to get involved in
cricket. We hope to hear more stories like Sue’s in the future!
email us at [email protected] contact us on 0121 446 2710
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