Amanda Smith: Today, white maggots and blind mice. In other words, the people we love to hate: sports referees and umpires. Why would anyone want to do it, willingly submit to a life of being abused by pumped-up players and angry fans, all of whom think they could do a better job than you?

Chris Burton: Everybody thinks they can umpire, but there's one heck of a difference between knowing the rules of the game and being able to umpire. It's a bit like knowing the rules of the road and being able to drive a car. One doesn't create the other. And I think all sports have that sort of aspect of umpiring in common. Everybody believes if you know the rules, you can umpire. I wish it were that easy.

Amanda Smith: That's Chris Burton, the National Director of Umpiring for Netball Australia. And we'll hear more from her, and others who officiate in other sports, later in the program.

Hi, I'm Amanda Smith, and first on The Sports Factor, one of the few umpires in the world who's gained a celebrity status in his own right.

Music: "Floral Dance", Grimethorpe Colliery Band Commentator 1: Dickie Bird had no hesitation; that looked like a very good shout, and well bowled...

Commentator 2: Dickie Bird studied that for a very long time. Steve Waugh looked up, looked back, thought, 'I'm safe' and then eventually the finger came up and Steve Waugh out...

Commentator 3: And Dickie Bird didn't give it as quick as he normally does. This time he came to attention, but that customary smile and smirk was on his face and...

Commentator 4: ... let it go, and Dickie Bird, 'That's out!'

Music: "Floral Dance"

Amanda Smith: Over the past quarter century, Harold Dennis 'Dickie' Bird has been a household name in international cricket, officiating at 66 Test matches and 92 one-day internationals. He umpired his final Test at Lord's last year, and after a few more county matches in England, he's declaring his innings over. And it was in county cricket that Dickie Bird's career started, not as an umpire, but as a batsman, for Yorkshire and then Leicestershire; invaluable experience for all those subsequent years standing behind the stumps, or at square leg.

Dickie Bird: I think that it certainly helped me by playing county cricket, there's no question at all about that, because I've gone through it myself. And all our chaps in England, we're full-time professionals. We're employed by the English Cricket Board of Control, and we are full-time professionals; and we sign contracts. And as I say, some of our chaps have played for England. So I think it's a tremendous advantage if you have played the game, yes. There's no question at all about that.

Amanda Smith: Although early in your umpiring career there were a couple of times when you forgot you were an umpire, not a player. Can you tell me about that?

Dickie Bird: Well that's right. There's many a time, when I first went into umpiring, I was appealing, and things like that. I would appeal with the bowler, I found that I was doing that. And also I was following the ball; like if someone hit the ball to the boundary, I would follow it, and things like that. But the more umpiring you do, then you get out of that habit that you have. You still think you're playing the game you see, when you first go into umpiring.

Amanda Smith: Yes, well I think there was one county match that you described in your autobiography, a game between Surrey and Hampshire, where a short ball was hit high, you ran from behind the stumps to the boundary, caught the ball over the boundary and then signalled a six.

Dickie Bird: That's right. Well actually - that is correct, and I followed the ball to the boundary and I caught it just as it had gone over the boundary, and then I came back on to the field and signalled a six. You're right, yes. That's funny actually, a funny incident.

Amanda Smith: Well in your 24 years as a Test umpire, were there occasions when the players got to you; when you did get unnerved by the intensity of appeals or the players' reaction to a decision you'd made?

Dickie Bird: One of the most important things in umpiring is gaining the respect of the players, and I like to think I've had the respect of every professional cricketer throughout the cricketing world. And I can honestly tell you this: that I never once had any problem, and I mean this in all sincerity, I never once had any problem from any professional cricketer throughout the cricketing world.

Amanda Smith: You've always been pretty strict when it comes to what you regard as intimidatory bowling, one of the big difficulties for umpires to control. For example, tell me about the time you had to censure Merv Hughes at a Test at The Oval, where Merv was constantly short-pitching the bowling, and you said to him 'Come on, give it a rest' and he took no notice, so you gave him an official warning.

Dickie Bird: What it was, was that I had asked him to space them out, and he didn't take any notice. I'd asked him in a nice and proper manner. But he didn't take any notice and he kept peppering them in, and as you say, I gave him an official warning. And I called Allan Border over, the captain of Australia, and I said that I'd given him an official warning. And Allan Border said to me, 'Well, you should have said to him space them out', you know. And Merv Hughes said, 'Well he did, captain, he told me to space them out'. So Allan Border says, 'Well, it's you, you big daft so-and-so, get on with your bowling'.

Amanda Smith: Well you're also known, Dickie, for your idiosyncrasies and mannerisms, as well as being a tough umpire, but an entertaining umpire. Have you deliberately sought to lighten things up?

Dickie Bird: No, I wouldn't say that. I would say that. I'm very, very highly strung. And I have mannerisms which I don't realise I'm doing, you know. So I think these mannerisms that I have, it helps me to unleash the tension, and as I say, I honestly don't realise I'm doing them. But it helps me probably, to unleash the tension that builds up inside you in the Test match arena.

Amanda Smith: As an umpire, how aware are you of the crowd?

Dickie Bird: Concentration, as I've said to you, is very, very important in umpiring. And when you're concentrating so much, you don't realise. For instance, when I umpired in Calcutta in a World Cup match, I think there were well over 100,000 in the ground, and I didn't realise because I was so deep in concentration, I didn't realise that there were over 100,000 people in the ground. Amazing, that.

Amanda Smith: As a Test umpire, and as an Englishman, how have you been able to separate your feelings of support, say, for the English team, from the neutrality required of an umpire?

Dickie Bird: Well the thing is you know, when you are out there in the middle umpiring, it never goes through your head who is batting and who is bowling. And I gave my decisions as I saw them fairly and honestly. And it never went through my mind who was bowling or who was batting.

Amanda Smith: Dickie Bird, finally, you're the son of a Yorkshire miner. What would life have been like for you if not for cricket?

Dickie Bird: Well, cricket has given me a wonderful career. It's given me a chance to see the world and I've met some wonderful people. And if it had not been for cricket, I think probably I would have followed my father down a coal mine. Because in those days, back in Barnsley in Yorkshire, the South Yorkshire coalfields, that's what you did, you followed your fathers to the coalmines, and that's what I probably would have done. And the thing is that I'm so grateful for cricket for what it's done for me, it's given me a wonderful career. And a clean living.

Amanda Smith: And cricket and the cricket world is grateful to you too. Dickie Bird, thank you very much for speaking with me today.

Dickie Bird: Thank you, luv.

Music: "March of the Cobblers", Grimethorpe Colliery Band

Amanda Smith: And you can read all about Dickie Bird's life and times in a book he's just written. In typical no-frills fashion, it's called 'My Autobiography'.

Now, to talk more about sports officiating: three people who are the top guns in their particular sport. Bill Deller is the national director of umpiring for the Australian Football League. He's officiated at four Grand Finals, and next month he hangs up his whistle after 35 years in the game.

Bill Mildenhall has been named the National Basketball League's referee of the year every season for the past ten years. He's been an NBL referee since 1979, at which time he was also playing senior footy with the St Kilda Football Club.

And Chris Burton is the director of umpiring for Netball Australia. Chris was a player with the National Netball Team for 12 years, and as an umpire, she's called the shots at three World Championships. And for Chris, it was a case of 'If you can't beat them, join them.'

Chris Burton: Well I was playing, and I didn't particularly like umpires. And I didn't understand much of what they were doing, because it seemed to relate to very little that I was trying to do. So, normally in netball circles you tend to play and then go on to coach, but it seemed to me that there was a lot of work needed doing in the umpiring sphere, so I thought, 'Oh well, I'll have a crack at this, and see where we go.'

Amanda Smith: Beyond obvious things like fairness and impartiality and knowing the rules, what makes a really, really good umpire or referee?

Bill Deller: Well we've conducted all sorts of tests on our successful umpires to find out if there are any common traits amongst them, but there aren't. Economic, social backgrounds don't mean anything, education doesn't, personality type doesn't. So I guess at the end of the day in Australian football, it becomes a trial of attrition. And a lot of people try to umpire but our records show that over 50% don't get through the first year, or don't front up for the second year. And after that, it becomes virtually the survival of the fittest.

There was one trait that the sports psychologists did discover that was common to all the successful umpires, and that was an extraordinarily high rating in mental toughness. But I suppose that if you look at it from outside, that would have to be the case, in a system where you fall by the wayside and only those that can hang on make it.

Amanda Smith: And you have to be pretty tough to be generally known as a 'white maggot'!

Bill Deller: Yes.

Amanda Smith: Chris, what about for you, what do you reckon makes a really terrific umpire?

Chris Burton: Well the difference for us between a good umpire, who has all of the qualities and knowledge that you alluded to, the real difference between the good ones and the very good ones is: one can umpire the rules, but the very, very good one can feel the game, can read the play. There's an instinctive element in there that just makes them a cut above what we would consider to be norm.

Amanda Smith: You and Bill Deller both, as directors of umpiring, have had a lot to do with bringing on umpires. Is there such a thing as a natural-born umpire?

Chris Burton: I'm always frightened of that sort of term. I think the only thing that's naturally born are babies. I think it's life's experiences that make you a natural perhaps down the track. So no, I would go with the answer, no, there's not. I think the very best umpires are good communicators; now that also is a life skill, so I think the sorts of things that an umpire brings to their profession, they acquire while growing. I think it's as simple as that.

Amanda Smith: Now look, I want you all to be complete honest here, when I ask this, and Bill Mildenhall, you first. Is umpiring or refereeing a bit of a power trip?

Bill Mildenhall: Oh I guess, I mean, we've done some testing similar to Bill, and that is one of the aspects that does show through in our testing. And I mean speaking from my own personal experiences, you'd like to say that, No it's not. But in all honesty I guess you do like the fact that you do have some power, and the fact that by the end of the day no matter what people will say back to you, or the comments that can be made to you, generally you have the last say. And we try to, in fact, educate our officials to sometimes back away from that, and not be the one to always want the last say.

We would prefer those who take up officiating, basketball officiating, not to have those sort of traits very clearly obvious to all, to us, right from the very beginning, because we fell it would be very difficult to knock out of them.

Amanda Smith: Chris?

Chris Burton: Yes, it's a question that comes up, time and again. And I'm not sure that power - power already has an inbuilt colour mechanism, doesn't it? It's certainly a control mechanism. In netball terms, we try and at least teach to people that part of the ethos of umpiring is to bring a tone to a game. Now if that tone is security and safety and professionalism and a set of ethics, if all of that encapsulates power, then yes I guess there is some power element to it. But it's more something that can enhance the game, I think.

Amanda Smith: Bill Mildenhall, where does the job satisfaction come from for you? For example, it must be satisfying to feel that you've kept a volatile and potentially explosive game under control, and conversely, it must feel pretty terrible when a game feels like it's slipping from out of your control.

Bill Mildenhall: That's very, very true. I mean there have been so many occasions when we've come in off the game and felt because of the reactions of players and coaches, and also spectators, you feel like you've done a very poor job. Yet underneath it all you try to think back, and you reassess the performance, and you try and think of the mistakes that you may have made. And you come away a lot of the times - in fact this happened to me at the last Grand Final in the League this year - where we walked off, feeling that we hadn't done as well as we could have, based on the reaction of one of the teams, obviously the team who were losing. And having reviewed the game on videotape, it wasn't as bad as what we thought at the end of that game.

So sometimes you come off and you think, boy, we should be feeling really high and really good about that game, but because of reactions, you tend to sort of be a little down. And so that's a bit disappointing; there can be times where you feel like, why am I doing it? Why am I here? And then another day, the next week, you'll come up and it'll be a really good game, and you feel really good about it, and that brings you back again. And you continue on in that vein.

Amanda Smith: So in a sense, are you your own worst critic, despite being heavily criticised often from players and spectators, are you - ?

Bill Mildenhall: Oh most definitely. And we also have a very strong accountability system, where all our games are videotaped and we get a cut-up version of the game, with the mistakes we've made highlighted, or the calls that we didn't make. And also the positives, you know, the good calls and so on. So you are very accountable, and we are evaluated very strongly. And also, at the end of the game we walk in, and we would talk about the particular calls and whatever, and we discuss things together. And generally the more senior officials are the ones who would openly admit to the fact that they'd made a mistake. That's more difficult for the younger officials, because they feel like they're maybe hurting their future if they admit to too many errors. This is off the floor I mean. And we tend to evaluate our performances that way.

Amanda Smith: Chris, what are the best and worst matches you've umpired?

Chris Burton: Oh goodness. I think, I don't know how you explain it, but you do know when you manage to hit that sweet note, and you walk off and you think, 'That's as good as it gets.' But it doesn't happen often. So I suppose one of my worst moments was in a club game here at the old Apollo Stadium, between two arch-rivals. And I just got into a hole in one of the quarters and prayed that that 15 minutes would hurry up and disappear, because I couldn't get myself out of it no matter which way I went.

Amanda Smith: What do you mean, couldn't get yourself out of it?

Chris Burton: You just know that your timing's out, that you're moving at the wrong time, you're looking in the wrong place at the wrong time, and if you correct one aspect you seem to detract from another. It was just one of those moments when nothing went right for me.

But similarly you can have another match when for whatever reason, it just is that moment in time, everything that you've done, your preparation both mental and physical, all comes together at the right time, and you just hit those magic moments when you know you've got it all in your vision. You know your timings's spot on, your whistle's sharp, your reactions are quick, your vision's covering the whole area that it needs to, and it's a fabulous feeling.

Amanda Smith: Bill Deller, is there any room for humour when you're umpiring? Do you always have to be deadly serious?

Bill Deller: No, I think that you do need a sense of humour to survive in the first place, and succeed in the longer term. But a lot of the humour, or where your sense of humour comes into play, isn't apparent to other people. There are many asides, there would be in netball, basketball and football, between players and umpires that can be very humorous. But also to be able to take it all, whatever happens to you, in sport, or in life: there's a lot of things that happen to you that you can't do anything about. What you can do something about is what you do about it. And I think if you can retain your sense of humour - and I lost mine over the last couple of years! - but if you can retain your sense of humour, it enables you to get through it all. No matter how bad it gets, you'll get through it if you can maintain your sense of humour.

Amanda Smith: Bill M., how do you manage copping the personal abuse?

Bill Mildenhall: Generally I guess you have to be...thick-skinned is one of the terms that's often used for officials. And probably I am a little bit that way. I do try to laugh off a lot of the things and don't take them to heart; and realise in fact that they're generally abusing the position that I hold or the uniform that I'm wearing and not necessarily me personally. It's when abuse gets personal I think I get more affected, and when it's carried over outside of the court or outside of the game.

Referee: No basket! The shot was after the buzzer. Game's over.

Players: Are you crazy? Are you crazy? You're gone.

Referee: I keep the rules. That's it, game's over, no basket.

Crowd: Bullshit, bullshit.

Commentator: I sure wouldn't want to be Mickey Gordon tonight, or any other night the rest of my life here in Phoenix.

Player: I hope you...

Crowd: Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit...

Amanda Smith: The Hollywood version there of being a basketball referee. Billy Crystal, in the film, 'Forget Paris'.

And let's stay with our three real-life whistleblowers: referee Bill Mildenhall, from the National Basketball League, and umpiring directors Chris Burton from Netball Australia, and Bill Deller from the Australian Football League, who says that with the way big-time sport is these days, more effort has to go into developing mutual respect between players and officials.

Bill Deller: There isn't a lot of the traditional opportunity for relationships between players and umpires now because there are few 'after- matches'. But we do our best to create others, and we like to offer our umpires to go to training sessions with clubs. And one of the breakthroughs that we've had in recent years - and it's been terrific from both sides' point of view - is that most clubs run a pre-season activity or camp or whatever, and a lot of them are taking umpires away now. So the umpires live in for three or four days. I think Fremantle had a week camp that the umpires were at, and they did everything with the players: bike-riding, swimming, training, tactics discussion. But again, the traditional opportunities are dwindling, but we have to go out and create new ones.

Amanda Smith: Chris, are netballers as argumentative or intimidating with umpires as, say, footballers or basketballers can be?

Chris Burton: Oh I think some of the big ones are. But interestingly enough, we're not in the big money league yet, so we haven't yet lost the opportunities..

Bill Deller: Enjoy it while it lasts, Chris!

Chris Burton: Oh, you know, it's a rock and a hard place, isn't it? Wouldn't we love to be in the big money league, and yet when I hear you guys talk and hear that you're losing some of the off-court rapport that is so terribly important on-court between your players and your umpires, we haven't yet lost that. And so for that reason we still have lots of opportunities, and certainly at many of the club training sessions - particularly at the NNL level, or Commonwealth Bank Trophy level - we have umpires work with players at training sessions. So there still is that rapport.

What is interesting, in our sport there's often very few instances where a player will berate an umpire. Now, they happen, but they're few and far between. What we find more is that spectators tend to incite players and convince players that there's been some injustice done, and that indeed then impacts on the player, who becomes upset and ultimately there's a boiling over point, and there's some issue or some reaction to be dealt with. But in terms of a one-on-one, I don't know whether we're just very spoilt at the moment, or whether we haven't reached the big league. But our rapport with players, at this point in time, perhaps we should note the date and the time, is still fairly good.

Amanda Smith: How important is it to have played the game to some level to umpire the game Chris? You played for the National Netball team, does that make a difference to your umpiring?

Chris Burton: Yes I think it does. I don't think it precludes someone who hasn't played the sport from being a good umpire. But I just think those people who have played have some different strain. Perhaps they get there quicker, perhaps they get there easier, perhaps there's always an empathy with the player. But I do think there's that tiny grain of sand, that if you have played the sport, if you've experienced its highs and lows - and it doesn't matter at what level - then you take with you something innate that will always stand you in good stead as an umpire.

Amanda Smith: Bill Deller, footy umpires tend not to have been players at senior top level, is that an advantage?

Bill Deller: No, it's not an advantage. I think the perfect umpire would have been someone who played 200 League games, won a Brownlow Medal, played in premiership sides, knew the rules inside out, was better than Dale Carnegie at personal relationships, and so on! But we're waiting a long time for him to come along.

I think that if you would have played at League level, I think that would be a terrific attribute to have. But having done that doesn't automatically make it so, but it would enhance someone's opinion. But it wouldn't be automatic that you played therefore you could umpire. I think Bill would find that with the basketball as well.

Bill Mildenhall: Yes, we try to encourage our officials still to play the game, even at domestic level. You know we still feel that there's some advantage to be gained by doing that. And coaching, even at those sort of levels, as well. So we don't discourage anyone from being still involved in the sport outside of their officiating.

Amanda Smith: Well finally, I want to ask each of you, when you're watching a sport other than your own, do you watch and think about the officiating as much as watch the play? Chris?

Chris Burton: Yes, I think you do. I think there's a skill that just simply crosses boundaries. And there will be times even when I'm watching AFL, or if I'm having to watch basketball, you watch passages where you're impressed with the skill, the expertise, the excitement of that particular sport. But every now and again, you find yourself wafting back and locking in to the umpire because there is a cross-sport empathy. It's almost like a collegiate group: that's a colleague of mine despite the fact that I don't know them, I don't know all of their rules, but we're in the same profession. So yes, I find that I do sometimes wander across and have a little sneak at what the umpire's doing.

Amanda Smith: Bill Deller?

Bill Deller: Yes, I find myself that I cannot ignore what the officials are doing, and I'm very interested to watch how Bill and his team operate. Because they are in a much different situation to Australian football umpires, where they have the coaches on the sideline and the bench and the crowd in such close proximity. So it's very interesting to watch how they handle players. I mean I don't know the technicalities of the laws and I'm not really interested in that, but I do watch how they co-operate, how they sell their decisions and so on and so forth. And whether I'm watching netball or cricket, I can't help but take a very detailed interest in what the officials are doing. I think it's when you're in officiating, you're always trying to do things better; whether you're coaching officials or whether you're managing them or officiating yourself. And you can learn a lot from just watching what other people do.

Amanda Smith: Bill Mildenhall?

Bill Mildenhall: I find when I go to the football in particular, that I'm just forever getting into arguments with people around me, where I'm protecting the umpires. It's just amazing, because it frustrates the hell out of me to hear the criticisms that are levelled at the umpiring and knowing full well that they're totally wrong. And that really, really frustrates me. And I go and watch St Kilda - particularly this season or the past season - quite often, and I do, I get really, really frustrated with the fact that people just don't know what they're talking about in the crowds with regard to umpiring. And so yes, I have that same feeling. You know, I look at the game and then I observe the officials. And you do, as Chris pointed out, you just sort of have that - you may not know the person but you have an empathy with them.

Amanda Smith: National Basketball League referee, Bill Mildenhall. And national umpiring directors Chris Burton from Netball Australia, and Bill Deller, who's just about to retire from the Australian Football League. And Bill Deller's replacement at the AFL was announced this week. It's Peter Schwab, who comes into the job having indeed been a senior footballer. He played in three premiership sides with the Hawthorn Football Club.

And it's time now to blow the final whistle on The Sports Factor - for this week anyway.

I'll be back with The Sports Factor again next week. Hope you'll join me.

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The Sports Factor can be heard on Radio National, 8.30am Fridays (Repeated Friday evenings at 8.00pm).