Women’s Masters Presents Opportunity To Focus On Development Of Female Umpires

In May, Timperley hosted a Women’s O55s Masters Tournament presenting an opportunity to focus on the development and provide tailored support for female umpires.

The Level 1 umpires were supported by three higher-level colleagues, whilst Level 2 umpire developers received valuable individual and group coaching over the course of the weekend.

The tournament was a great success even though some were apprehensive before the start. As it got going the experience, performances and feedback from the teams showed these women could take charge of the games and had no reason to be worried as their confidence grew throughout the tournament. 

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the weekend, especially the camaraderie that grew amongst the all-female officiating team.

In the light of the success of this opportunity, North West Officiating will be advertising similar women’s tournaments as development opportunities for female officials. This will provide environments for women to try, develop and progress in umpiring. 

There are many barriers to umpiring for various underrepresented groups in the officiating community, we continue to challenge and break down these barriers to make sure everyone is able to participate in the game.

Whilst, at the moment, 50% of attendees on umpiring courses are female, within the umpiring community only 28% of umpires are female with only 20% of our female officials taking ‘neutral’ appointments. 

We understand there are barriers to women progressing as umpires and we will be conducting research into identifying and removing these in the future.

To support this, the North West Area Officiating Committee (NWAOC) will be encouraging umpires to progress by allowing flexibility in appointments to balance neutral and club appointments. This will help support club commitments and assist with umpire progression. 

The NWAOC intend to hold forums specifically for female umpires and umpire developers. This will provide a space where a variety of topics can be discussed with the comradery of other female umpires who have dealt with and overcome similar situations.