Our Umpiring section is run by Nicki Cast as Umpire Liaison Office with Gemma Shepherd deputising. Gemma also holds the Umpire Developer qualification and can be pitch side to assist umpires; old and new.

The Umpiring cohort forms an integral part of our Club and we currently have 11 Level 1 umpires affiliated to Havering HC; Nicki Cast, Gemma Shepherd, Neil Murphy, Ray Joslin, Haydn Joslin, Emma Isherwood, Karen Millicent, Pat Johnson, John Martin, Katie Griggs and Geoff Johnson. We also have 5 Level 1 Unassessed umpires; Megan Isherwood, Alison Isherwood, Lucy Bree, Ryan Lee and Leo Yang. Nine of these sixteen umpires are also players and so they work their umpiring availability around their games.

As a club with 4 Men’s and 4 Ladies’ teams playing League Hockey within East Region, we are required to provide both umpires for all our home games (with the odd exception as agreed with local opposition). We have built up a friendly, flexible, considerate environment to accommodate our Umpires’ games and personal circumstances whilst also fulfilling all our Umpiring commitments.

Our umpires are used to umpiring regularly throughout the League season, with some of our non-playing umpires officiating over two games on a Saturday. We work together and help each other out to ensure that the day runs smoothly. Some of our Umpires state a preference for particular games (Male/Female) or a particular level that they would like to officiate which our ULO will endeavour to accommodate.

Umpires generally keep their hand in by umpiring during the summer at games within any of the four summer leagues we enter. The summer league games provide an ideal opportunity for unassessed umpires to practise their umpiring skills and gain experience whilst awaiting assessment.