Quote:
Originally Posted by flipper
...Maybe it's a cultural thing.
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Bingo. In addition to training differences Mike mentioned, there are also cultural differences, especially in handling disputes, how important "face" is, etc. I would be astonished if these issues did not affect umpires, since they surely do affect business relationships between Americans and Asians (for example)... I know this from personal experience. Suppose an umpire on an all-American crew makes a call, and would ordinarily go to his partner if questioned by the coach. Now suppose it is an international crew and the cultural ways of even simple things like dealing with coaches (conflict) or going for help (face) are different. I don't know if international umpires get any training in cultural differences and how to deal with them, but if they don't, it will most definitely affect the performance of the crew even on simple things.