There is a gap in the umpiring profession and Samoa Netball Association is looking to recruit those interested to take up the responsibility.

Saui’a Dr Louise Milo, a board member of the Samoa Netball Association said the weakest part of the game in Samoa was umpiring.

“As you can see, we have sourced our umpiring for this tournament from overseas. These are umpires who are qualified and we are happy that they put their names up to help us take this tournament off the ground and this is something we need to work on for our sport,” she said.

“We need umpires. We need people who are brave enough to do it. We cannot have any games running without them.” 

For this tournament, Netball Samoa had to outsource the role of umpiring to eight international umpires who raised their hand to help with the shortage of local officials within Samoa.

Charlize Leo, is the only one from the nine local umpires who willingly put up his hand to be a part of the inaugural Samoa Netball Association Cup 2023.

“No one has really raised their hands to take up the role in this year’s Samoa Netball Association Cup 2023. People feel that umpiring is intimidating and quite frustrating at times but it is a great opportunity and another pathway into the netball scene,” he said.

“I want to encourage everyone to join umpiring or be part of the bench official duties."

For those interested in becoming umpires, they can go to the Samoa Netball office and there are courses available online sponsored by Netball Australia to help develop umpires.

Charlize said this year’s tournament presents itself as a great opportunity for him to learn from the international umpires.

“There is a mentoring session after each break and after every day there is a gathering and feedback session which helps,” he said.

The call is not for anyone in particular but for everyone to come have fun.

“Anyone can do it. It’s a great opportunity to keep up with your fitness and have a healthy lifestyle. It’s fun.”