Lives in Cricket No 19 - Frank Sugg

student of the Laws of the game, he had good eyesight and hearing, even at his relatively advanced age, and, he would claim, a common-sense approach to the job. If he had a weakness it was perhaps suspect powers of concentration which had certainly been his undoing as a player in many instances. Frank had a rapport with the players that came with many years of playing the game at the top level. He was never reluctant to offer an explanation for his decisions and could be quick to remind a player who was in charge. When a county captain objected to a couple of his decisions, Frank offered him his white coat with the words: ‘If you think you can do better, you should put this on.’ Frank was very critical of the way umpires were selected and of their pay and conditions. 111 He thought it outrageous that it should be county captains rather than some independent body who decided who should be added to the umpires’ list. He also objected to the system where umpires were graded, in secret, as good, indifferent or bad by county captains and could be struck off the list if they collected three bad grades in the course of a season with no right of appeal. In contrast, if an umpire wanted to report a player for ungentlemanly conduct he must first inform the player’s captain when, odds on, the player would offer an apology to end the matter. At Frank Sugg’s time, an umpire was paid £9 10s 0d for a match starting on a Wednesday, £10 10s 0d for a match starting on a Saturday. From this fee, the umpire had to meet his travel and hotel expenses. Given the irregularity of the employment, Frank Sugg reckoned he would be lucky to make £100 in a season. And he found the job tiring. He argued that an improvement in umpires’ pay and conditions was essential if umpires of an acceptable quality were to be attracted and retained. If Frank made his views known at the highest level of the game – and it would certainly be characteristic of him to have done so – it had little effect. Umpires continued to be poorly paid. Whether by his own choice or otherwise, Frank was not re-appointed as an umpire for the 1928 season. He was one of four who were stood down. Among the replacements was William Phillips, already an experienced umpire (he stood in two Test matches in 1921), who had played a few games for Lancashire in the first decade of the century. Umpire and Journalist 117 111 His comments will be found in his column in Liverpool Echo , 18 May 1929.