Lives in Cricket No 6 - Bill Copson

no doubt felt it high time to ‘hang up his boots.’ He decided that cricket having been his life for so long that he would apply to become a first-class umpire. This was and still is a most sought after job for former first-class cricketers. Bill passed the rigorous examination required and joined the county umpire circuit in 1958, when Dick Coleman of Leicestershire dropped out. 38 He had arranged to take leave without pay from his job for the summer months. The other newcomer to start with him was J.B.Bowes, the former Lancashire pace bowler. Comparatively little has ever been written about this very important branch of the first-class game. Umpires have a most demanding job and work extremely long hours of duty each day as 78 Umpiring and Retirement Local celebrities. Bill Copson and Eddie Shimwell in 1953, with the FA Cup. Shimwell, from Birchover, near Matlock, played right-back for Blackpool in the ‘Matthews final’ at Wembley in that year. 38 He stood in a three-day match, not first-class, between Derbyshire and RAF on 15, 16 and 17 May, 1957, which may have been for him a ‘dry run’ of some kind.