"The best way I can
describe it is that umpiring chose me. I didn't choose it."
- Simon Taufel, renowned former international cricket umpire and former member of ICC's elite panel of umpires.
Having spent over a decade as an ICC umpire, Simon Taufel is now semi-retired and recently spoke to Betway, over Skype from Australia, about his career, what he is up to currently, and how he feels umpiring has changed and can be improved going forward.
Taufel stood in 74 tests, 174 ODIs and 34 T20Is resulting in the best part of his life spent on the road. This trip to Australia however, is for pleasure as he is there to watch is daughter compete in an Under 12s regional tournament.
“When I pulled the pin on my
international career," he says, "I sort of thought that I'd lost a
lot of my two boys growing up, and I didn't want to lose my daughter."
Taufel was just 29 when he
umpired his first Test in December 2000 between the West Indies and Australia.
He estimates that, for each of
his 13-and-a-half years as an umpire, he spent an average of between 60 and 70
days officiating, and another three days away for every one that he was on the
field. That is about 180-210 days a year!
That is a total of over five years spent away from family.
"It's not easy and it's
not for everyone," he admits.
Taufel was only looking for
some "handy pocket money" when he took up a friend's invitation to
enroll in an umpire's course before starting university in June 1990.
His friend, Dave, failed to
achieve the 85% required to pass, but Taufel, managed it.
"If anything, I was
always probably a little guilty of over-preparing," he says. "I'm a
bit of a checklist freak."
By the time Taufel reached International level, he was reviewing and summarizing six different laws every day to refresh his memory of the cricket rule book. He studied bowlers and batsmen, he reviewed previous series, and he attended net sessions to watch teams train.
He also prepared for contingency by reading up on local airports and alternative hotels in case of emergencies.
All this was before the cricket had even started!
"I think I probably went
further than most, simply because I wouldn't describe myself as a natural
umpire," he says.
"I had to work harder at
my game to feel that I was ready and that I deserved to have a good day out
there, rather than just turn up and it be OK."
Such dedication saw Taufel win
the ICC David Shepherd Umpire of the Year award for the first five years since the award's inception, though he's since given all but one of the trophies to people that
supported him along the way.
"I did feel embarrassed
and uncomfortable with those awards," he says, "because umpiring is a
team sport and we were singling out one person."
Talking to Taufel, the
importance of teamwork between umpires is a recurring theme.
After retiring from umpiring in 2012, he moved to the head office to work as the ICC Umpire Performance and Training
Manager, where he supervised the development and implementation of additional
resources to support umpires on the field and in the television booth, including
the deployment of umpire coaches to all international matches.
“If I did my career again, I
would probably want to talk more about my mistakes," he says.
"To share my shortcomings
more with my colleagues after a day's play, rather than keep them to myself and
have to deal with them on your own in your hotel room."
One would think that DRS would have helped ease the burden on umpires but Taufel, who experienced only 4 years, out of his 13.5 year career, with technology thinks otherwise.
“I don't think DRS has
necessarily made umpiring easier or more difficult," he says. "It's
just made it different."
“Pre-DRS, you'd deal with the
error later. With DRS, you've got to deal with it at the time.You hear your decision
dissected in your ear piece, in front of millions of people, and then, after 90
seconds, two minutes, you have to publicly change your decision and somehow
regather your thoughts. You can feel a bit
embarrassed and humiliated. It's really tough to move on and focus on that next
delivery.”
As was made clear in March
this year, when Australian batsman Cameron Bancroft was caught using sandpaper
to alter the condition of the ball in a Test match in South Africa, technology
has become increasingly important not only in aiding decision-making, but also
in helping to manage player behaviour.
"The third umpire, quite
easily, has got the toughest job out of the whole umpiring team," explains
Taufel.
"Their job is to watch
the TV as their primary focus. There should be nothing that goes out to people
in their lounge rooms that is missed by the third umpire.”
But, the sandpaper gate, which
led to Bancroft, his captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner all
being banned, proved that this is not always possible.
"I think it's fair to say
that nobody would have expected what happened in Cape Town to unfold before our
eyes as it did. As much as you try to
simulate different scenarios in a training environment, sometimes there are
things that you just think: 'Wow, is this really happening?'"
Taufel was working for Cricket
Australia, in charge of umpire selection and match referee management, at the
time, and has sympathy for officials that are put in that position.
"The game of cricket is
now more commercialised. It's a different type of animal at Test and
international level. There are a lot of
people who push the envelope to try to get the result to go their own way. I've got no problem with
players playing the game hard, no problem at all," says Taufel.
Not many know that Taufel also played some cricket before he went on to become an umpire. He captained his first team at secondary school before going on to play for New
South Wales Schoolboys Under-19s alongside Adam Gilchrist and Michael Slater.
He laughs “I played the game
pretty hard. I appealed for just about everything I could. I don't think I ever
got into trouble with the umpires, but I do remember getting a bit of a
bollocking from my coach for swearing on the field. For me, behaviour is a
captain, a coach and a team issue. At the moment, people seem to abrogate that
responsibility of managing player behaviour through code of conduct or
umpires.”
Yet Taufel, who remains the
only umpire to have ever been invited to give the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey
lecture, believes that the episode can serve as a turning point for the game as
a whole.
“I hold the spirit of cricket
close to my heart. Results come and go, but who we are and how we play really
defines us. We are guardians of the game
of cricket. We have to leave it in good shape for the next generation. The only way that we can do
that is through adherence to the laws and to the spirit of that game."
This is where Taufel believes
that players and coaches can learn from umpires.
“You can't change what's
already happened, it's part of history now. But, like a cricket
umpire who can't change the ball that’s already gone, you can certainly do your
best to get the next decision right,” he says.
“That's what I would say to
Australian cricket and that's what I would say to the global game: learn from
what's happened and use the opportunity to make the game stronger than it's
ever been before. That's something that
everyone can look at. Not just one country or one player or one captain, it's
up to everyone to play their role."
.jpg)
