They are the people without whom the games could not take place; if they do a great job, they go unseen and unremarked upon – and they are fiercely proud of their status and professionalism.
The team of umpires and umpires managers at international events such as the Pan American Junior Championships are not simply chosen from a random selection of officials, they are chosen because of their ability to umpire at a high level; they will have been through many years of training and demonstrated their commitment to improving their skills, raising their own performance level and staying abreast of developments within the game.
Two such men are Roger St Rose of Trinidad and Tobago and Matias Barbosa Castaño from Chile. Roger is one of two umpire managers taking control at the Pan American Junior Championship in Toronto (alongside Alan Waterman of Canada), while Matias will be one of eight PAHF umpires blowing the whistle at the tournament.
Roger explains just what the job of umpire manager entails: “I see our role as primarily coaches and mentors to the umpiring panel that has been selected for this tournament. Our job is to create an environment which is conducive for the individual umpire to be put on a pathway of positive growth in their umpiring career.
“I try to create an atmosphere where the umpire feels confident in himself and he is relaxed and I try to ensure that he only concentrates on the positive outcomes of the game.”
This latter is an important point because umpires, just like players, will have good and bad games, or good and bad moments on the pitch. One of Roger’s roles is to ensure that the umpire whose confidence has taken a knock is ready for the next match. His philosophy is simple – give the umpire time to unwind, then sit down and identify the problem. Once they have established why it happened, Roger says it is time to put the issue away and move on.
This is an approach developed after years of experience as both an umpire and an umpire manager. Roger's career in international umpiring began in 1987 at the PAHF Junior World Cup qualifying tournament, but he started umpiring when he was at secondary school.
He reached international Grade 1 status in 1992 and was upgraded to Olympic/ World Cup level in 1994. His first senior top level event was the 1994 World Cup in Australia.
From then Roger’s curriculum vitae just kept growing and includes: two Junior World Cups, Champions Trophies, Commonwealth Games, European Cup Finals, two Olympic qualifiers, many Pan American Games, several Central American and Caribbean Games and the Atlanta Olympics of 1996.
Of these, Roger says his best umpiring moment came in 1996 during a Champions Trophy match between the host nation Pakistan and Spain. “I have had numerous great moments umpiring in different parts of the world; but the most enjoyable was in Lahore, Pakistan in 1996 where I umpired a memorable game between Pakistan and Spain with my roommate Peter Von Reth in front of a packed stadium of more than 30,000."
Roger retired as an international umpire in 2000, but he still umpires in the domestic league in Trinidad and Tobago. Despite some time away from umpiring at the highest level, he reveals the pre-match nerves still exist, albeit for different reasons: “I normally get very little sleep the night before a match as I will be anxious to ensure that the umpires do not have to think about anything other than what is happening on the pitch.
“I think I am far more anxious that they perform well than they will ever know; but I try to keep a poker face and appear nonchalant. I try to ensure that the umpires are able to relax before the game and they can do all the things they would always do in preparation for a match. I try to make sure they are not too anxious or nervous, that their pre match preparation is done and they are thinking positive things going into the match.”
At the other end of his umpiring career is Matias Barbosa Castaño. He has been an umpire for eight years, taking charge of his first tournament five years ago. Matias says that he has learnt an amazing amount in the past few years, both through umpiring in different places and working with his diverse band of umpiring colleagues. “I see myself between now and then,” he says, almost in bewilderment, “And I must say that I’m a completely different person. More relaxed, wiser and much more knowledgeable.”
However, Matias says he still has much to learn: “If I can put it in numbers, I would say I am up to 20 per cent of my potential. I just want to keep on learning. Every tournament is different, and in all of them I learn different things.”
Matias has good reason to be looking forward to umpiring in Toronto. He officiated at the Pan American Games in Toronto in 2015 and says that experience was the highlight of his career so far. “That tournament was a complete success: the umpiring, the managers, the games, the whole organization, the volunteers. It completely exceeded my expectations. It reinforced to me why I wanted to umpire in the first place. Now I can’t wait for the Pan American Junior Championship to begin. I am hoping that it will be as fulfilling as the last time I was in Toronto.”
While Matias is thriving in his role as an international umpire, he admits that there are moments when his composure may be threatened by circumstances. Experience gained over the past eight years has helped him cope with these stressful moments.
“I think this is the biggest difference between an experienced umpire and someone relatively new. Umpires are people; amazing people, but just people. We make mistakes during the game and, obviously, we get upset about some decisions we make. But we can also learn from those mistakes.
“It´s very important that as you enter the field you are in the right frame of mind. To achieve that it is important to have a good pre-match preparation with your umpiring partner, make good use of your pre-match time for warming up, get to know the field and take a look at the teams as they warm up. It's all about feeling familiar with the surroundings.”
Speak to any of the umpires on the international circuit and you will discover a unique loyalty. Matias sums this relationship up. “I think the relationship between the umpires and the technical table is not just important, it is a key element for having a good match. Your umpiring colleague must have your back during the game.
“During the tournament it’s important to establish a certain level of familiarity with the whole umpiring team. There is nothing better than umpiring a game with someone you know.”
While dealing with pre-match nerves, calming down irate players and making match changing decisions could make an umpire’s life seem very stressful, there is always a lighter side to the role. “I was umpiring a normal game in the countryside,” recalls Matias. “There were no problems during the whole game. Then 10 minutes before the game ended, a dog entered the field, grabbed the ball and ran away off the stadium. We didn’t have any balls left so we had to finish it 10 minutes before it really ended. We all had a good laugh about it afterwards.”
And of course, there is always the feeling of elation that comes from being an important element of a special moment. For Matias, this came in the Pan American Games last year.
“My last game in the Games was Cuba against Trinidad and Tobago,” he says. “It was for the 7-8th place and Cuba had only got eight players because eight of the squad had disappeared into the streets of Toronto seeking political asylum.
“I expected the game to be catastrophic: I thought that the Cuban players would be aggressive, that they would delay the game as much as they could, that it would be a game with a lot of injuries and cards. But I was completely mistaken.
“The Cuban team played their best. They were playing, not just for the love of their country, but for the personal love to the sport and out of respect for their opponents. For the whole match they were running, creating play, with no complaints.
“Cuba lost 13-0 and at the final whistle, the players fell to the ground exhausted. The Trinidad and Tobago players help them to stand up and carried them around the whole field so that the spectators could cheer them. 1,000 people gave a standing ovation to those eight players. It was a moment that I will never forget, and the reason of why I love this sport.
