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| Sunday, 21 December 2003 |
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Big money has made cricket a serious profession! - Steve Bucknor by KAREL ROBERTS RATNAWEERA Technology may play some part in lbw decisions, but if technology goes all the way,the human element will be eliminated.
West Indies International Test umpire Steve Bucknor was talking to the Sunday Observer in an exclusive interview at the Taj Samudra on the eve of the final England-Sri Lanka Test match for which Bucknor flew out from Australia to umpire in. The Jamaican umpire has been familiar to local spectators for many years on TV as well as in person; his bearing on the field is always dignified and commanding of respect. When this writer did an impromptu interview with Steve Bucknor last year, sitting on the garden wall of the Taj which is the official hotel for visiting teams,he said that some things in cricket will never change, one being the lbw law. He said this when the intricacies and uncertainties of this law were touched on. Really, he was going out of his way to explain the lbw law, but perhaps because I am a woman, all explanations seemed to escape me. Cricket is a man's game. Steve Bucknor's roots go back to African slavery when his great,great grandfather would have worn the manacles that bound him to work for life for the 'great white bosses' whose property they were. That famous song 'Old Man River,' sung by the legendary Paul Robeson, tells the story in music. The slave is 'tired of living and fear of dying'. He 'gets a little drunk and lands in jail.' Such was their lot. Bucknor is a workaholic. He goes wherever the going is tough to do an honest job of work. Cricket, he says, is not what it used to be in 'the old days.' 'It is a serious profession today with more and bigger money at stake. Even roadside theatre is now becoming professional,' Bucknor said. And there is the growing entertainment value of the game which is opening it to bigger audiences. He was himself a cricketer, playing for Jamaica although not for the West Indies national side.'There were some bad decisions made against me so I decided to take to umpiring to protect batsmen against bad decisions,' he said. Steve Bucknor continued playing cricket till 1985. He would umpire on Saturdays and play on Sundays and vice versa. He became an international umpire in 1993 but had been in the job for 31 years all told. A football accident incapacitated him for some time and he gave up playing cricket. An athlete - he was a triple-jumper - Bucknor lives by a moral philosophy based on his devotion to his Christian religion. He belongs to the Baptist sect and reads the Bible religiously. It goes without saying that prayer plays a part in the field when he is working. Umpire Bucknor believes in the 'good way'. and that a player - or for that matter, anyone, should remain the same person whether he wins or loses. 'If the umpire is certain that the ball would have hit the wicket, he has to give the batsman out - that is the fundamental guiding principal of the lbw law, he said. 'I am a professional, earning, and that is important,' he said.He believes that everyone should get what he deserves and that it does not matter who wins.' Whoever wins is not my business,' says the philosophical umpire. Bucknor was about to leave the hotel for an inspection of the SSC pitch which he said was routine. Sri Lankan grounds are 'pretty good,' he said and are similar to West Indian ones. As far as comparisons between Sri Lankan and West Indian cricket crowds are concerned, he said that West Indian crowds are more aggressive because they are descendants of the system of slavery that existed some generations ago. His own parents were from Africa, but the family migrated to Jamaica where he is domiciled. He says that belief in God - and fear - is to be right. 'You are rewarded for right things,' he said. 'Work is work; I need to go where I earn. Cricket is tough in Australia; wherever cricket is tough I am sent,' Bucknor said. He is physically prepared for hard work; he walks in the mornings and works out at the gym. You have to be able to last (the pace). 'Endurance is important but there is no need to worry about this and that,' he says. Diet he says plays an important role in the maintenance of physical fitness. In fact, he had just tucked into a breakfast of only fruits. He is eating less meat now and quips if you want to live to hundred, eat less meat! Among his heroes are Conrad Hunte and of course, the famous three W's, Worrell, Weekes and Walcott. Steve Bucknor believes that Cuba is one of the best sporting countries in the world. 'You can always expect something special from Cuba,' he says. On Sri Lanka, he said that he has always had good experiences here ,and always pleasant memories to take back with him. He had been on several Christmas shopping sprees in Colombo,even venturing into the Pettah with his liaison officer, and to a popular Colombo fashion house which is at the moment as crowded as a railway station. The shopping was for his family of eight children, one being a step-child, back home in Montego Bay, Jamaica. |
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