VCA Umpires and Scorers Association

A few minutes with Geoff Joshua

Geoff Joshua started officiating in Victorian Premier Cricket in season 1995/96.

He stood in 272 Premier Matches, 172 of those in 1st XI, and stood in a further

188 Cricket Australia matches, including 1 Test, 15 T20Is, 56 Sheffield Shield and

131 other First Class/List A Matches. He umpired 4 First XI Grand Finals, won the

Jim Phillips 1st XI Award in 2016/17 and travelled to Auckland on Victoria's

New Zealand Umpire exchange, and umpired 3 First Class Matches overseas,

2 in South Africe and 1 in New Zealand.  

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VCAUSA
Thanks Geoff for spending some time with us. We’ll chat shortly about

your Umpiring career, but just before we do that, can you please tell us

a little bit about your life growing up.

Geoff

I was born in Richmond in Melbourne.  I grew up in the inner suburbs of Melbourne, with Mum and Dad and five older sisters.  I went to Carey Grammar originally, but after year 7, I wasn’t being the ‘best I could be’, so my parents moved me to Balwyn High School (still an excellent school) to stop wasting their ‘hard earned’.  

I certainly played cricket in my early years.  I absolutely loved the game, and couldn’t wait for the next match.  I was a batsman and part time wicket keeper.  Most of all, I liked opening the batting. 

I spent the summer playing cricket, and winter was football, which I also loved very much, however I had to juggle that with diving (springboard style).  I come from a very strong diving family, where a lot of our family represented Australia at junior level and I was lucky enough to do the same, however, my motivation for diving was not there, because it just got in the way of the games that I loved. 

I played club cricket as well as at school.  In club cricket, I played with a club called North Carlton in the VTCA, and then moved to Richmond Union.  When I was quite young, I also tried a bit of a stint with Richmond in the Premier comp, but only played lower grades there, and got impatient, so I went back to Richmond Union in the VTCA.  I also played in the sub district competition with Kew

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VCAUSA
From your playing days, what was your best performance? 
 

Geoff

From my playing days my best performance was a 111 not out in a semi-final and then we went on to win the premiership.  So that is the main highlight, and best memory.  I was 17 at the time.  I made one other century, and a few 50s.  The other fun memories were the junior premierships, and the friendships that I made in the game, and still have today.  There was also a time where the team didn’t have enough bowlers, so I had to fill in as a bowler, and I ended up getting 6 /14.  It was my first ever bowl in senior cricket.  I was 15 years old at the time, playing in the club thirds and I was pretty proud of that performance.  I felt pretty good after that, but certainly as most guys would know now, I wasn’t able to carry that on any longer

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VCAUSA
So what led you to Umpiring?
 

Geoff

Well umpiring always seemed to suit me.  As a young guy, I enjoyed umpiring sport

whenever I wasn’t playing, because I didn’t really like sitting around watching games

that much.  I am a horrible spectator.  I always wanted to be involved, if I wasn’t

playing at the time.  For instance, if I was playing footy on Saturday’s, I used to

umpire on Sundays and vice versa.  As a teenager, my only part time jobs were as

an umpire, umpiring football or umpiring indoor cricket.  During club cricket, I also

used to umpire matches, after I had batted, when we didn’t have an umpire, because

I didn’t really want to sit around and do nothing. 

In my mid 20s, I was sitting around feeling sorry for myself, after being dismissed

one day and I was in the middle of an absolute horrid year, where I couldn’t make

a run.  I was chatting to some team-mates and discussing that another member of our

club had gone and joined the VCA Umpiring Panel.  I just had a gut feel that, as I wasn’t

going to make any further strides in my cricket career, a game that I loved so much, I just wondered if I’d be any good as an umpire.  Some people I spoke to had suggested that if I started early, I would have an advantage, so at the end of that season, I rang up the VCA and made an inquiry about how do you get into umpiring?  I was advised to do the Winter classes, and at the same time, I put in an application to join the panel, and was successful

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VCAUSA
Where did you start your Umpiring Career?

Geoff

As above, I went straight to the VCA umpires panel

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VCAUSA
When did you make the move to umpire with CV, do you remember your

first match?
 

Geoff

I certainly remember my first match in 1995.  It was at the old Harry Trott Oval,

which no longer exists, which was at the north end of the Albert Park Lake,

pretty close to the Lakeside Oval.  It was between St Kilda and North Melbourne

4ths and I remember the game going down to the wire, with a lot of wides,

and right at the end of the game I had an LBW decision, which would have

decided the game.  I gave it not out, and remember thinking straight away, ‘Wow, this job can be full on’

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VCAUSA
When did you start at CA Level? Do you remember your 1st List A/1st Class

Match and how many CA Matches did you umpire in total?

Geoff

After doing a very long apprenticeship with some under-age representative carnivals, CA Cup (Futures League), WNCL matches, two Emerging Player Tournaments, and over 100 1st XI matches, 12 years after I started umpiring, I was appointed to stand on January 18th 2008 at the MCG in a Ford Ranger Cup Match, Victoria v Tasmania, with Paul Reiffel.  That became certainly one of the highlights of my career.  It was a close game, and we had plenty to do.  I called a wide on the very first ball of the match, and I had a close LBW call on the third ball.  I remember that moment well, looking up and seeing the keeper and the slips appealing with the MCC members stand in the background and thinking how far away they seemed from me.  After the decision, I took a deep breath and thought to myself, wow, this really feels like the ‘big time’.  Dirk Nannes was the bowler and Tim Paine, the current Australian Test Captain, was the batter.  During the evening, we also had rain interruptions, and a fair catch to adjudicate on.  The captains on the day were Dan Marsh and Cam White. 

My wife was there with our 4 year-old daughter, my best mates were there, my dad was there with my sisters’, and even later on my mum turned up.  That is the only game of cricket that my mum ever went to, and I certainly can’t remember her at the MCG any other time.  They were all so proud, as I was, and it was certainly a very special day for me.  I also will never forget the amazing support that I received from my Cricket Victoria colleagues, especially from my partner Paul Reiffel, as well as Bob Stratford who was there as Cricket Australia’s Match Referee and Umpire Coach.  Another thing I remember, is getting to sleep at about 4am, and having to get up at 6.30, to drive to Geelong for a premier match the next morning

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VCAUSA
From your CA Matches, what have been some of your Umpiring highlights?

Who were some of the best Players you have umpired and what’s the best ground to Umpire at?
 

Geoff

Apart from the one-day debut above, another highlight was certainly my first-class

debut, at the Adelaide Oval with Rod Tucker and Bob Stratford again, as the

match referee. It was between South Australia and Victoria in 2009.  Daryl Harper,

who I had never met at the time, came down to watch my shirts being presented

to me, and the start of the match.  That was pretty special.  I didn’t know he was

coming, and I really appreciated that.  All first-class games are special, but some

other that stand out in my memory, were the two in South Africa, and one in

New Zealand.  In addition, I never imagined, when I started umpiring, that I’d

get the chance to umpire in front of huge crowds, or regularly on television, so I

often had to pinch myself when that was occurring during the BBL.  T20 Cricket

was only just being ‘thought of’ when I umpired that first List A match at the

MCG, and no-one imagined that it would change the game as it has, or

bring crowds back to domestic cricket.  Other highlights for me were certainly the Women’s

Ashes Test Match, at North Sydney Oval, which is something that I will hold dear to me, as well

as the Prime Minister’s XI match (and morning tea with the PM at Parliament House). 

The opportunities to umpire overseas were amazing, including South Africa, where I stood in

a first-class match at the famous Bull Ring (Wanderers) in Johannesburg, and two trips to NZ,

one of which was the CV sponsored exchange to Auckland, which I loved. 

The Premier Finals (all of them, at every level) are all special, as they are always tense matches,

where some players are playing in the biggest matches of their lives, thus it being so important

to them.  However, the best highlights are meeting and making life-long friends in the game,

from all over Victoria, Australia and the World.    

As far as who were the best players, I’d rather mention the best performances from players,

that I umpired.  The best first-class performance that I saw was by Carlton’s own Evan

Gulbis, who made 200 and followed it up with 10 wickets in a match at Bellerive Oval

in Hobart, Tasmania, against South Australia.  Funnily enough, I would have to say

that Evan, again, put on the best Premier Cricket performance that I have witnessed,

with his chanceless 140 odd not out in 18/19 premier final, when Carlton chased down

450 to beat Geelong. 

The best T20 performance was by Chris Gayle in the old state-based competition, when

he was playing for Western Australia at the Gabba, and he scored 92, I think off 50 balls. 

That was the first real blazing T20 innings that I watched from close range, and the

crowd was just going crazy. 

The best ground is always the MCG.  As a kid, I was often there with my Dad, dreaming

of just being out in the middle.  The fact that I had quite a few chances to do that,

was always so special, and you never get sick of it.   There is also something about

the SCG.  When you are you in the middle the history that you can just see in the

older stands and heritage dressing rooms are also so amazing.  The Adelaide Oval

will always be special to me, because of my first-class debut, and there are also two

venues that I have the honour of umpiring the debut first-class matches that were held

at those grounds, and both of these appointments were with my close mate and fellow Victorian, John Ward.  Those grounds are the fabulous Perth Stadium (Optus Stadium), as well as the ‘not quite so fabulous’ Blacktown International Sports-park

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VCAUSA
What do you plan to do (or already do) outside of cricket?

Geoff

I would certainly love to stay involved in the game, to give something back to the game which has served me so well.  I don’t know what I will do, as yet, but I would love to help develop other people, and do whatever I can to help other people experience some of the massive highs that I have experienced in this craft, in the same way that so many of the more experienced guys helped me early on, and hroughout my career

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VCAUSA
Is there any advice you’d give to up and coming Umpires now?

Geoff

Certainly, there are some tips, that come to mind.  Umpiring is a game of patience. You can’t just come in and umpire the Boxing Day Test the following year.  Progression takes time.  It took me a 7 or so years before I had my first taste of any representative cricket, and 14 years of hard work to umpire first-class cricket.  You really need to respect all those in the queue, and take the time to learn from everyone, and from every experience. 

Secondly, take the time to really know and understand the playing conditions, absolutely 100%. A judgement error is always forgiven, but any error of laws or PC’s are remembered and not as easily forgotten. 

Thirdly, and most importantly, have fun.  Enjoy every match and every moment as though it will be the last game you ever umpire.  One day it will be.

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VCAUSA

Thanks for your time today Geoff. It's very much appreciated, and a great pleasure to catch up again. Good luck in your future and go well.

Geoff

It's been a pleasure. Thanks