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Day Two at the 2011 IWC
February 11 2011
On day two I had just the one appointment: Namibia vs. The Netherlands. My game plan going in was to take the comments from Ray the day before and put them into action. Being more proactive and anticipating play rather than reacting to it.
Speed
The fact is that at the international level the speed of the game is incredibly high, and indoor is even another step up. There is no time to process the play as it happens and so to be in the right spot when you need to be focused the entire time. Distraction is the enemy and there is nothing more distracting than the pressure cooker that is a world cup event. You become acutely aware of the crowd and the cameras, of the pomp and circumstance, the almost 3-ring circus atmosphere. The challenge is to eliminate as much as possible and be there for every moment.
This means there is absolutely no time to take a break. Habits that form from working local games and even national level tournaments have to be broken and put aside. Where I would normally regroup every 5 minutes I found myself doing so every 1-2 minutes. Reading the play and getting to know the players and their habits and skills becomes an almost physical endeavour. Fatigue leads to poor decision making and one bad decision tends to snowball into a string of control issues. Players can sense when an umpire is unsure and tentative and once they do it is hard to get them back on your side.
Diversity Of Teams
Namibia on the first day had been handed a crushing loss (18-0) and would be playing for pride. Their skill set just couldn’t match countries that play at the level of European Nations, but they would be brave and not lie down for anyone. Holland, on the other hand, had beaten Canada quite easily and would be making a run for the semi-finals. With only the top two teams from each pool making it through to the medal rounds and the competition being very tight, goals and goal differential could turn out to be an important factor.
As umpires our job is to protect and encourage skillful play and penalize behaviours that jeopardize it. We are also there to protect the safety of all the players. When there is such a large gap between skill sets this can become more complicated. It is often said that when both teams are very close in skill and level it is almost easier to umpire because they just want to get on with it and the need for intervention is less. The more separated the teams are the more work you are likely to have to do.
Working With Someone New
My colleague for the match was Pawel Linkowski of Poland. Since we had never worked together we needed to find some common ground early and find ways to present a common front. Our pre-game chat was not as early before the match as I would have liked, but I have noticed that most of the chats are very limited in scope at this level; let’s face it, there is not much difference between us when you are all at the same level. It is one of the reasons you are here.
My intention of being ahead of the play and anticipating more was for the most part successful. I still had moments where I knew I had waited too long (and we’re talking fractions of a second here) but at least I was recognizing them and filing them away. There was only a couple of situations where I felt my colleague was ‘stepping on my toes’ so to speak, but we sorted that out at the time-outs and half time. One instance was a Namibian player who had come out of his shoe. He actually picked it up and ran around with it for about 30 seconds until I awarded a free push to his team. He then went to put his shoe on and asked me to stop time. He was right in front of me and I said that I wouldn’t stop time, that he either needed to put on his shoe quickly or step off the court for a substitution and put it on at the bench. While I was saying this Pawel stopped time from the far side of the pitch. I waived the player off and got time started again quickly, and at half time I told him that I would manage the players nearest me and didn’t need his help, which was followed up be the TO for the match (Guido Braca of Italy) saying I was correct and we don’t stop time for players to tie their shoes. Pawel and I came to an understanding and I felt the second half saw us more on the same page.
This can happen when you are working with someone for the first time. The important thing is to respect each others areas of control and only assist when required. Jumping in all the time, especially at a world event, tends to give the players the impression that one umpire is not as skilled as his colleague, and that undermines his or her authority. Sometimes it is better to let your colleague make their own mistakes because they will be better able to recover on their own.
Great Umpires of the Game
I would like to add that I was a reserve on a great match between Iran and Russia. The umpires were Michael Soukup of the Czech Republic and Andy Mair of Scotland. It was an incredible match and should have been a showcase on pitch one. It was also one of the best umpired matches I have ever had the pleasure to watch, and both men should be complemented on their performance. If there was a bench-mark to strive two these guys just raised it. Inspiration for me to up my game.
Appointments for day 3 were handed out and I have 2 games on the schedule. I am excited as one of them will be an important match held on pitch one, which means it will be televised live all over the world on the internet. I am looking forward to the challenge.
