Connecting
the heart of umpire development in South Central
Umpiring can sometimes feel like a surprisingly solitary thing, but developing as an umpire doesn’t have to be.
Connecting brings together the people, conversations and opportunities around umpiring in South Central: who to contact, what’s happening, where to find support and the other ways you can get involved. Whether you’re looking for the Monday Mixer, a development opportunity, the right person to ask or a route into another part of officiating, start here.
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SCO Events
Three way radios for developers!
We are delighted to say that we will be rolling out some three-way radio kits for developers for the 26/27 season. The three-way set up allows us to hear the umpires' conversations while playing and if appropriate offer real-time advice. If you have a developer coming...
Monday Mixer 26/27 Season
The Monday Mixer begins again on Monday 14th September at 7.30pm (7pm for developers). The Mixer is a Monday night Zoom meeting open to all umpires with a connection to South Central (however tenuous!) who want to meet other umpires, ask questions, offer advice or...
Rules Briefing and Development Day
Saturday 12th September 2026 Trojans Hockey Club* The day will predominantly be run around understanding and observing the updated rules in practice, but there will be plenty of developers on hand to help with any other questions you may have. Because this will be...
The Monday Mixer
The Mixer is our flagship event for all umpires in South Central, where we hold a Monday night Zoom meeting at 7.30-8.30pm during the season. The meetings are always recorded for those that can't make it.
The meeting gives umpires a chance to chew over events from the previous weekend, ask questions, pose challenges and come along to hear the latest thinking around umpiring.
You don't have to ask a question, or contribute to the answers if you don't feel comfortable (you don't even have to have your camera on!), but we would encourage anyone that can make it to come along and enjoy the fun!
There are always umpires in attendance from all levels of hockey, so don't worry that you'll be too inexperienced - anything we can do to help umpires improve is a good thing.
Meet the Development Team
In the post-Covid restructure, South Central was lucky to retain a lot of talented developers from the former SCHUA and various County associations within. Even though there is only one formal 'Lead Developer' position, that means nothing without a whole group of people volunteering their time to go out on a Saturday (and other days/evenings) to help improve umpiring across the Area.
As an incredible bonus for South Central, we have been lucky enough to work closely with Keely Dunn of FHUmpires for several seasons and get very excited when she extends her stay in the UK (Keely is Canadian eh). Keely's experience as an umpire from grass-roots through to international caps and continued work with umpires at all ends of the spectrum gives us access to amazing support, thinking and not a small measure of 'Keely-time' when she gets on a roll... Just don't go saying 'short corner' or 'long corner' to her and you'll be off to a flying start 
We always encourage umpires to try doing some coaching of other umpires as it's also a great way to improve your own game! Lots of our development team also umpire to a greater or lesser extent, so if you're interested in getting some coaching experience, get in touch.
Ginette Tessier
Lead Developer
Rob West
Level 1 Developer Manager, L2 Coach Candidate
Allan 'Nipper Notman'
Senior Developer
Steve Godwin
Senior Developer
Keely Dunn
Queen of Hockey
Karen Daffey
Senior Developer
Simon Watkins
Senior Developer
Rick Goddard
L2 Coach
Tim Clay
L2 Coach
Mark Rutherford
L2 Developer
Paul Godfrey
L2 Coach Candidate
Chris 'Radar' O'Hagan
L2 Developer
Chris Pelmore
L2 Coach
Georgina Kenworthy-Brown
L2 Coach Candidate
Simon Gibbons
L2 Coach Candidate
Liz Spencer
L2 Coach
Howard Pollard
L1 Assessor
Huw Richards
L2 Developer
Simon Milford
L1 Coach Candidate
Phil Griffiths
L1 Developer, Level 2 Coach Candidate
Mark Sayers
L1 Coach
Rowena Shepherd
Club Liaison Lead for South Central and L1 Coach
Mike Robson
L1 Coach
Nigel Buckley
L1 Coach, L1 Assessor Candidate
Graeme Cooke
L1 Coach Candidate
Nick Gage
L1 Coach Candidate
Mike Robinson
L1 Coach Candidate
Dave Carter
L1 Assessor
Chris Bond
L1 Assessor
Roy Holcombe
L1 Coach
David Boyle
L1 Developer
Mark Cumming
L1 Developer
David Rump
L1 Coach
Gerry Eamer
L1 Coach Candidate
Hatty Wood
L1 Developer Candidate, L1 Assessment Manager (going from L1U to L1A)
Meet the Team: The Appointers
Allan 'Nipper' Notman
Nipper is the Lead Appointer for South Central and primarily appoints umpires to Prem level games in South Central. He is also heavily involved in Army hockey and organises umpires for various inter-services tournaments throughout the season.
Despite living in the South of England for quite some time, you'll still detect his Scottish accent - especially when it's a Friday night/Saturday morning hustle to move umpires around to acommodate last minute issues!
James Bartrip
James appoints to Men's and Women's Div 1 North and he is also the Area Discipline Administrator.
When he's not flying helicopters for a living, he also umpires for NPUA women's panel and for South Central in the Prem panels.
David Boyle
David appoints to Men's and Women's Div 1 South, Men's Div 2 South and also Sunday/midweek fixtures. He also umpires in the Women's Prem panel and various other competitions, plus being part of the development team.
David's knowledge of hockey is legendary, which means if there's a way to appoint the right people to the right places, he will find it!
David prefers not to have his picture on the internet, so we're happy to honour that wish.
The South Central Officiating Committee
The Committee is responsible for administering umpiring throughout South Central and ensuring we meet the remit given to us by the broader South Central Hockey Board. You can reach out to anyone on the Committee and also stand for a position yourself if you'd like! Committee positions are normally confirmed towards the end of every season, in advance of the AGM (usually held in May). If you want to read up on the most recent AGMs, please head here. There's more information about behind the scenes of South Central Officiating on the England Hockey website.
Officiating
| Chair | Simon Milford | Chair.officiating@southcentral.hockey |
| Vice Chair | Hatty Wood | ViceChair.officiating@southcentral.hockey |
| TAP Lead | David Rigby | LeadTAP.officiating@southcentral.hockey |
| Lead Appointer | Allan Notman | LeadAppointer.officiating@southcentral.hockey |
| Lead Developer | Ginette Tessier | Leaddeveloper.officiating@southcentral.hockey |
| Club Liaison | Rowena Shepherd | Leadclubliaison.officiating@southcentral.hockey |
| Young Umpires | Sophie Parker | LeadYoungUmpires.officiating@southcentral.hockey |
| Indoor Appointer | Graeme Cooke | graeme.whc@live.com |
| Level 1 Manager | Hatty Wood | hattywood@icloud.com |
Discipline
| Discipline | James Bartrip | discipline@southcentral.hockey |
