December 2025 – Officiating newsletter

We would like to wish you all the very best wishes for Christmas and the New Year and hope that you can come back suitably rested and refreshed in 2026.

For those who aren’t celebrating Christmas, for whatever reason, we wish you a relaxing break and we look forward to seeing you again in 2026.

Committee

Just as a reminder, your committee is:

 Your committee is here for you as an official (either umpire, match official, coach or assessor) at whatever level of the South Central organisation you operate at.  If you have an officiating related question, need some help with umpire coaching or development, or just have officiating related questions that you can’t find the answer to – then get in touch with us and we’ll see if we can help.

Development and Selection News

Appointments continue to be a challenge with fewer umpires available and also trying to work around playing commitments where possible for those that like to still be able to do both. We are very fortunate to have been able to rely on colleagues who have moved beyond South Central coming back to help out where possible, which reduces the pressure on our Level 1 appointers to find umpires to fill any gaps in the Premier programme. As always, we ask umpires to not only put in their availability in good time, but also regularly check they are still available when they've said. There's nothing that makes an appointer's heart sink so much as to have to make changes within 30 minutes of publishing because people have forgotten to update their availability...

All that said, we have also had a number of last-minute enforced changes because of injuries and other circumstances. We were particularly saddened to hear of personal bereavements for some of our umpires. Our very best wishes go out to those who are facing a very different seasonal break than planned. Any kind of family emergency obviously takes priority, and your appointers will never mind making a last-minute change because of such things. Immediate family first - your umpiring family will be waiting whenever you're ready to return.  

We are delighted to see so many umpires keen to progress and equally pleased that so many want to continue being involved at their current level. We do as much as we can with the development support resource available and try to be fair and equitable when there isn't quite enough help to go around. Some umpires have even found themselves receiving a lot more support than expected - usually because they happen to be in the right place at the right time with a colleague at the other end who is due support. No-one is being picked on, we promise! We will continue with a mixture of continuity coaching and coaching/assessment mixes for the second half of the season, with some umpires already putting in their requests for support and assessment. If you would like to discuss your progress and a plan for the second half of the season, please get in touch with the development team: Ginette for Level 2 and Rob for Level 1.

The Monday Mixer sessions continue to be well attended, with lots of fruitful discussions being had - congratulations to James Bartrip who is 'collecting' South Central titles(!) - as the appointer for all North Div 1 matches, new Area Discipline Administrator and of course most importantly Monday Mixer Christmas Quiz Champion 2025!

Several umpires have moved up through their panel in the first half of the season, so well done to Lee, Pip and Jack. Congratulations to Graham and Richard who both made promotion from Level 1 to Level 2 in their panels. Congratulations are also due for Dan Lovelace who has received nomination from South Central to NPUA. Good luck with the assessment when it's scheduled Dan!

Wishing everyone a peaceful festive season and see you in 2026, with the Monday Mixer resuming on Monday 12^th January at 7.30pm for any umpire wishing to join. Details on umpiredev.co.uk, which will also have finally had its new 'facelift' revealed by then!

Expenses

Just a quick reminder to those umpires who can claim expenses via GMS – please do so as soon as possible to help our Treasurer balance the books, and then claim your H2 expenses at the end of the season.

Club liaison

Restrictions on access to personal data [advised by England Hockey to comply with GDPR], has made it more difficult for me to contact club umpire developers. 

It would be good if any club umpire developer in South Central who would like support and advice about their club role got in touch with me using the contact details below. I receive a steady stream of questions about how to develop club umpires, how to get club umpires level one assessed, how to encourage club members into umpiring and similar topics.

I would be pleased to liaise with Godders if a club wants the Hit Squad to visit. The Hit Squad offers a session of intensive coaching to club umpires - including both experienced umpires and newcomers. It is always well received and provides a lot of encouragement, enthusiasm and practical experience to club umpires.

Claire Wilkinson and Pete Atkins Trust

This trust exists to support young umpires. It focuses on supporting and developing groups rather than individuals.

If you are planning an event that will offer a number of young umpires opportunities for development - the Trust might be able to offer financial support. Please get in touch with the trustees (via leadclubliaison.officiating@southcentral.hockey) to tell them about your proposals. They will be pleased to help.

Indoor Hockey

Over the last three weekends, Indoor Hockey has been in full swing in South Central. Club teams from the length and breath of the Area have been competing at venues in Marlow and Southampton in Boys/Girls U16 & U18 events and Adult Open/Men’s & Ladies events.

Alongside teams of umpires, a number of Match Officials (“MOs”) have been working together to ensure that both the rules of the game (umpires) and regulations for the events (match officials) were followed by the players.  

The various teams that won their respective events will now go forward to represent South Central in the National Super 6s competitions in January 2026.

As the Lead Technical Appointments Panel (“TAP”) representative on the Area Officiating Committee it was great to see several members of our hockey community stepping forward and being an Indoor Hockey MO for the first time at both the Open/Men’s and Ladies tournaments on December 14th. Between the two events they officiated at some 40 games. 

Hopefully some of them will now be considering becoming an England Hockey Appointed Match Official and be a part of the Officiating team at National League matches and Domestic Championships.

If you would like to know more about becoming an MO then please contact me via LeadTAP.officiating@southcentral.hockey

Level 1 assessments

Just as a reminder, especially to Club Umpire Developers across the Area, that Level 1 assessments should be arranged via Hatty Wood (vicechair.officiating@southcentral.hockey ).  Get in touch with Hatty and she will explain the whole process to you and arrange for an assessor at a suitable time.

We have managed quite a few (definitely more than 10!) Level 1 assessments so far this year.  It is also worth noting that the Level 1 on-line courses are now free and there are many courses with availability in 2026. Head to https://hockeyhub.englandhockey.co.uk/officiating-offer and get your club colleagues to register for a Level 1 course. Who knows – you might even recognise some of the presenters…!

Umpire abuse

Sadly we have heard of instances of umpire abuse creeping in.  Just to remind you – any players who use foul language directly to an umpire should expect to receive a red card.  That includes any suggestions that an umpire is biased, racist, homophobic and so on.

Such behaviour is completely unacceptable and we owe it to our sport to stamp this out. 

Simon Milford

Chair, South Central Area Officiating Committee
Chair.officiating@southcentral.hockey