FHumpires.com
16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China
November 15 2010
This is my fourth international tournament of 2010; definitely my busiest year as an umpire. It seems fitting that the last tournament is the most grand. The Asian Games are second in size and sports only to the Olympic Games, and the opening ceremonies were a vivid reminder of that.
From the thousands of performers to the 19,000 fireworks launched from nearby buildings and the 45 boats that delivered the over 6,000 athletes to the specially designed stadium along the Pearl river, the enormity of the games was hinted to. The grandstand was built specifically for the opening ceremonies; it is not yet clear if it will be converted to a more usable building after the games are completed. Thousands of volunteers lined the walkways and entrances, the stairs to the seating and the promenades along the waterway. If there is one thing about being in China is there is no shortage of people.
And what a people! I have been treated like a rock star since arriving here in Guangzhou. We are always greeted with a small and a small bow, and I’ve even been stopped in the streets and shops and asked for my photograph, all because we are here for the games. The chinese people are very proud of hosting this event and they are showing it at every turn.
The venues are incredible. This city is very modern and you could drive for hours and still have a new and unique sky scraper rise up in front of you. Apartment complexes litter the sky line and house tens of thousands of people. It is staggering.
The hockey venue is in the middle of the Aoti sports complex, home to baseball, tennis, swimming as well as hockey. There is also an enormous stadium that I believe can host soccer but I’m not sure if they are playing it here or at another stadium. The hockey stadium, with its two pitches, is a very nice place to play the game. The seating is considerably less than the stadium in Delhi but gives off a big sensation when you are standing on the turf.
My first match was at the end of day three of the competition, but it was the first day of the men’s tournament. It was the feature match of the day between host China and Oman. Despite a lop sided score-line (7-0 to China) there were plenty of challenging situations for me to sink my teeth into as an umpire. This was a much better start for me than at the Commonwealth Games, and I am determined to perform better overall.
The biggest challenge came from the team from Oman. I am unsure of whether or not it is cultural or just their team in particular, but they like to argue quite passionately about calls that go against them, more so if it is a penalty corner. They were defending my colleagues (Virender Singh of India) circle and surrounded him on several occasions. Fortunately he was able to diffuse the situation, but not without using up a lot of time. When it came to my turn to have them in my end, there was considerably less surrounding.
For young umpires in the same situation keep in mind a few things. First, it is not acceptable for players to surround an umpire, period. In order to limit such behaviour use the tools from your body language tool kit. Keep eye contact and try to avoid dropping your gaze or looking away. Stand your ground and even consider taking a forceful step towards the players. Above all else remain calm. We have radios at this event but no video referral, and the radios are the push-to-talk kind, so if you use them it is very deliberate and obvious to everyone you are using them. Finally, you must fight the instinct to get caught up in the emotion of the players. In general you get a much better result if you react calmer than they do. If there is a foot and you call a penalty corner, use a small whistle. As tempers go up try to bring your demeanour down. This strategy seemed to work very well for me and by the end I was building very good rapport with the players; after all you never know if you will have to umpire them again later in the week or in the future.
I don’t have any matches on the second day and will try and spend it preparing for my next game. Time to take care of the body.
