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Planet Field Hockey

Nick Conway is at the Commonwealth Games writing for PlanetFieldHockey. He talked in-depth with Steve Brooks, an umpire who is relatively new on the international scene, but a well-known fixture in the English League.


Nick Conway (NC): So Brooksie how many caps do you have now?

Steve Brooks (SB): It was my 23rd yesterday.

NC: What was your first one?

SB: It was Holland against South Africa.

NC: I heard you ripped your trousers in that one.

SB: Yes, true story I was umpiring my first international with Deo (Santiago Deo of Spain), 8 minutes into the game I fell over and well you know the rest. So then yesterday before the game Sean Kerly came to see me and he said “just stay on your feet Brooksie”…..second minute I fell over again, and it was live and interactive on the BBC so my Mum and Dad and all the lads were watching………this was bouncing across the table (pointing to cellular phone).

NC: Your first game was with Deo, is he still regarded as the best in the world?

SB: He has just retired after the World Cup, but yes.

NC: How was it umpiring with him your first time out?

SB: It was awesome, a different class.

NC: How so?

SB: The players just have a total respect for him. He could give any decision that he wanted and nobody would say a word to him, but he has earned that respect over his 200 games.

NC: Have you learnt anything from him?

SB: Control. He deals with things really early, straight away. He shows everyone where his line is and anybody that goes over that line he deals with it. Plus the greatest thing an umpire should have is advantage – he just lets the game flow. He also, in that game let me umpire my half.

NC: Were you nervous in that game?

SB: Oh yes, very bad. I still am though; I get nervous before any game.

NC: That’s a good sign though isn’t it?

SB: If you use it positively anyway. I get nervous if I do Doncaster Thirds against Brigg Seconds.

NC: You work in a very high-pressure environment, what is the most difficult thing about umpiring an international game?

SB: It’s the chat that you get when the game breaks down. Its such a flowing game that at this level if you stop and talk, the game has gone past you, so you don’t get much trouble during play. It’s situations when a short corner is awarded and there is a stop in play you can get intimidated and you have to deal with it.

NC: What do you do to deal with that situation?

SB: I talk and talk and talk. I’ll talk to the Captain and tell him that it is something I don’t accept and it is up to him to deal with.

NC: Have you been in a situation where you have had to send the captain off?

SB: No not yet, so it is working for me the way I have been dealing with it.

NC: Is it still a tactic to surround and pressure the umpire after every corner decision?

SB: It is until the umpire deals with it. It happened to me in Hamburg last year. I awarded a corner to the Dutch and the Germans surrounded me and the Germans are a lot taller than I am. Florian Kuntz the Captain towers over me. So I just stopped the clock and walked him out of the circle. As I was outside of the circle he bent over and patted me the head, which broke the ice. I told him if your players surround me I will have to deal with it and the man that I will deal with is probably you. He said “no problem umpire” and we had a good laugh about it. The next corner they didn’t do it.

NC: Do you have any problems with language barriers?

SB: I haven’t had any problems at all yet. Most of the sides speak English. The one I was most worried about was the Koreans because I am a chatty umpire. They were playing Holland as well so I cut down on the chat and used a lot more body language. I do try to use a lot of body language as well so it really wasn’t any kind of problem whatsoever.

NC: You were known as a player that wanted to talk to the umpires…

SB: Yes

NC: ….have you had any run ins with any of the players like you used to have with some umpires?

SB: I remember a Premiership Final in Reading where Cannock were playing Surbiton. I gave an horrific decision and my old mate Bobby Crutchley ran at me and said “that’s (BLEEP BLEEP)” . There is a picture of me in the Hockey Sport magazine flashing a yellow at Bobby. I draw my line at players that swear at me.

NC: I can remember you sending me off for a similar kind of thing.

SB: Exactly, I can name a few schoolboys who have seen the same thing. You know I used to swear at umpires like that and I can’t remember any of them that sent me off. I don’t think that is acceptable.
As people saw yesterday the New Zealanders and Aussies were chipping away at me but that was just good banter. Nobody ever over stepped that line and I am happy with all that.

NC: Is there anything that you think you should change in your game?

SB: I do think that my presentation is awful. The players understand what I am doing but as you get onto a bigger arena like this the crowd need to know what I am doing as well. When the tournament director doesn’t know what you are doing then your marks go down.

NC: So what can you do about it?

SB: Well it’s difficult if you haven’t umpired international hockey for eleven months. That’s a problem in England that they don’t give the umpires enough practice during the year to perform at a level like this.

NC: Don’t you feel that you get enough practice in the Premier League?

SB: The Premier League is very poor. There are three or four games a year that are around the same tempo. The Premiership Final this year was Surbiton against Reading and that was the fastest game that anybody had seen in this country for a long time.

NC: So do you think that there should be any rule changes to develop the game better?

SB: No but I think the biggest thing that has to change all over the world is the interpretation of the lifted ball and whether it is dangerous or not. You see lifted balls being blown when there is no danger whatsoever and it does spoil the game. Umpires should be encouraged to judge balls on danger and not simply if a ball is lifted or not. That will open the game up a lot more.

NC: The value of awarding a short corner in the means game is immense. You can easily decide the game by awarding corners.

SB: Absolutely, I can name games that I have changed incorrectly where I have made a mistake on a corner decision. It is such an influential decision.

NC: Is it too easy to win a corner?

SB: It’s not as easy as it used to be. The umpiring is improving on this manufactured drive into the circle and defenders are being looked after more. Defenders are entitled to their space. It is up to the forward to go around him. I think we are getting better at that Internationally.


NC: Thanks Brooksie good luck in the tournament.

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