Times Media
TELFORD VICE, Johannesburg
Rudi Koertzen remembers his first pay packet as an umpire all too well: “It was R75.” For that princely sum, Koertzen and his colleague, Lou Rautenbach, officiated in a Benson and Hedges game at the Victoria Ground in King William’s Town in the late 1980s.
“We were staying at the hotel at the casino and I thought I could double the money,” Koertzen said. “But it never got to that stage, and the next morning after we flew back to PE I had to borrow R10 from Lou to pay for my parking at the airport.”
Nowadays umpires earn around R45 000 for standing in a test. Koertzen, who hung up his white coat in 2010, said he missed the gravy boat.
“I wish I was five years younger, then I could have stuck around for another five years. These guys are on their way to being millionaires.”
“These guys” are the 11 umpires who make up the International Cricket Council’s elite panel. They can expect to stand in eight to 10 tests a year - an annual salary of between R360 000 and R450 000.
Eight are from England and Australia, while Marais Erasmus is the only South African on the panel.
Six, including Erasmus, reached first-class level as players. Another four - Kumar Dharmasena, Ian Gould, Paul Reiffel and Richard Illingworth - turned out for their countries. The odd umpire out is Steve Davis, whose highest claim to fame is having played grade cricket in Australia.
Some would say that shows, given the unathletic figure Davis cuts on the field and his seeming propensity for making errors.
But Koertzen, himself a graduate of nothing more impressive than league cricket, was adamant that playing at a high level was not a requirement for a career in umpiring.
“Umpiring is about how strong you are as a person and your rapport with people,” he said. “I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times a player has come up to me and said, ‘That was a shit decision’.”
No-one has stood in more international matches than Koertzen, a member of the original elite panel in 2002 whose 108 tests, 209 one-dayers and 14 T20s add up to 331 games at the highest level.
He has officiated in the women’s World T20, the Indian Premier League, the Champions League T20, a lone second XI county championship match - Worcestershire versus Sussex at New Road in 2001 - and in games involving the national teams of Nigeria, Norway, Botswana, Germany and Kuwait.
However, Koertzen himself would take issue with the veracity of all that: “T20 is not cricket; it’s rubbish.”
Like the game itself, umpiring is transformed from what it was when Koertzen made his first-class debut in a Bowl game between Griqualand West and Western Province B in Kimberley in November, 1981.
“It was really difficult to get to the top in those days, but things were different then,” Koertzen said. “Players would call you all sorts of names on the field but after the game you would have a beer together. Now they try to hide the umpires away.”
And another thing: “I’ve always been in favour of using technology, but the poor third umpire does everything these days. What really gets me is when a batsman is dismissed and they say, ‘Hang on - let’s check for the no-ball.’ Then we see the replay and the bowler’s foot is halfway over the crease.”
Want to put R75 on that happening too many times next season, Rudi?
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