Royston Hockey Club

Like most ball sports, the poor old umpires and referees are always getting stick from the players. But without them there just wouldn't be a game! That's why at Royston Hockey we have realised the need to have and develop good umpires. In fact our Club can boast having had a couple of top world class umpires in John Whitehead and Doug Bruce, who have blown at International level and the Olympics! John Whitehead is still very active today and blows a firm but fair game.

Royston Hockey club currently have about 14 level one qualified umpires and actively support players who wish to become umpires, by providing funding and pitch time for their training. Last season alone, RHC managed to put 10 new umpires through their written exam and hope to have 23 level one qualified umpires by the end of the season. (Not a number many clubs can boast about!!) Some of our more experienced umpires, Neil Drage and Pete Belcher are pictured below.

Each year at the beginning of the season, all club umpires are asked to complete a simple sheet to establish what games they can and can't do. This information is then used to select umpires for each of the games during the season. Copies are then distributed to all team captains and umpires so that before the season starts, every game (for every team) has an appointed umpire. We have found that the system works extremely well and reduces the amount of time spent by captains and vice captains running around trying to find someone to umpire. It also allows playing umpires to know well in advance where they will be each weekend.

We would like to encourage any people interested in becoming a new umpire to contact a committee member and we will help get you started on some training. We can never have enough umpires. 

Junior Umpiring Course
There is a young umpires course being run by Ely HC in September. There is a maximum of 20 places on the course, so if you are interested please complete the application form and get it back to them as soon as possible. The Club has funding available for these courses so please contact the CLub Umpire Liaison Officer Jan Brynjolffssen and he will arrange it.

Please click here to download the applicatiom form.

Umpiring Links
Click on the links below to go through host website's to find out more information on general umpiring matters, rules and course details.

          E.R.H.U.A.                E.H.A. Umpiring 


New Hockey Rules for 2009
As you all may have heard, there are some new experimental rules going to come into effect for the 2009 season onwards. They are aimed at making the game more flowing with the use of 'self-taken' free hits, and making the game a bit safer in the attacking 23m area by eliminating the big hit into the circle. Please make sure you are fully aware of these and any other minor changes that have been brought in, click on the link below to open up a booklet on the new rules for outdoor hockey in 2009/10. Perhaps some players might find this interesting reading...?  
Hockey Rules 2009/10.pdf

The use of the 'Self Pass' is going to radically change the way we play the game this coming season, so please make sure you are all familiar with home it will be interpreted and used in the game. There are now many examples on You Tube, this clip in particular explains things quite nicely: 'Self Pass Explained'. There are also several other clips explaining how to use it in various parts of the field. Make sure you've had a look at these.

The EH Guidance Notes foe Umpires can be found here. Well worth all Umpires having a read of this.