Quote:
Originally posted by His High Holiness
All;
Most of my games concern participants over the age of 18 so I usually don't have to worry about the question that I am about to pose.
...[snip]...
Now I am not a nanny to adults. If they want to be stupid, that is their right. But do umpires of minors have any responsibility to make sure that all of the players take cover? Or is that the coach's job? Once we stop the game, do only the coaches have the responsibility to see that their charges are behaving responsibly?
How do other umpires handle this? BTW, I insisted that the batboys get into the dugouts in this game.
Peter
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Peter, I know that you specifically asked about "
umpires of minors" and like you I seldom umpire players who do not shave. All the same, I'd like to suggest that the umpire DOES have a certain level of responsibility, EVEN if the participants are adults and theoretically responsible for their own actions. I look at it like this:
- From the moment I accept the home team's lineup card, I'm in charge of everything that happens on that diamond until I leave at the end of play.
- Although I can't be held responsible for the stupidity of another adult, I do have a duty of care to warn each and every participant if I can detect a reasonably forseeable danger
- Standing around in the open swinging a metal bat, or leaning up against a metal mesh backstop, when there is lightning about IS a "reasonably forseeable danger"
I've had to warn adults not to do those very things on more than one occasion, and invariably they've thanked me afterward because they simply hadn't thought about the possible consequences.
I wouldn't want it on my conscience that I failed to offer a well-meaning warning in such circumstances and someone was seriously injured, or worse, as the result.
Cheers