Posted: April 13, 2008

Derek Shuttleworth

Derek Shuttleworth has called time on his distinguished umpiring career after more than 1,000 matches.

The 78-year-old president of the JCT 600 Bradford League Umpires Association has decided that the strain of standing in matches has become too much for him after 44 years.

But one of the most instantly recognisable figures in recent Bradford League history won't be lost to the competition. Almost as soon as his retirement was announced he accepted an offer to score at Bankfoot.

Glyn Pearson, chairman of the JCT 600 Bradford League Umpires Association led the tributes to Shuttleworth. He said: "Derek's record of more than 1,000 games will surely never be matched. He has been a wonderful umpire and a great servant for our association.

"We are delighted that we will still see him around the Bradford League scene in his new role at Bankfoot. He has done so much to put umpiring in general and our association in particular, on the map."

Shuttleworth's outstanding service to the JCT 600 Bradford League was recognised in 1998 when he became the only umpire to have won the coveted Sir Leonard Hutton Trophy.

And his immense contribution to umpiring was rewarded last year when he was made a life vice-president of the Association of Cricket Umpires and Scorers (ACU&S).

"That it happened at Lord's at the annual meeting was a big thrill," said Shuttleworth, who began umpiring in the Bradford League in 1964 after being helped to a large degree by George Palfreman.

Shuttleworth, who played for Eccleshill in the Bradford League, Olicanian in the Aire-Wharfe League and Uppermill in the Saddleworth League when his teaching commitments took him to Oldham, received 26 shillings per match for umpiring in the Bradford League when he started.

It was mostly second-team cricket for the newcomer that season, although he did umpire his initial first-team game - East Bierley v Saltaire - on the final weekend of that campaign.

In 1968, Shuttleworth was appointed as chairman of the Bradford League Umpires Association and held that position for 25 years before serving for four years as vice-chairman.

He has been a full member of the ACU&S since its formation in 1973 and became an umpires' instructor the following year.

In 1976 he was appointed regional training officer for West Yorkshire. "Perhaps it was because I was a teacher that I was asked to do it," he said.

However, he formed a good friendship with the late Tom Smith, founder of the ACU and the original author of the "bible" for umpires.

Shuttleworth was on the panel of umpires for Yorkshire Second XI matches but in 1994 he took up scoring in the belief that his umpiring days would soon be coming to an end. He passed the standard scorers' exam with 99.5 per cent.

He umpired for 37 years in the Bradford Junior League's under-17 division on a Wednesday nights. He started in 1967 and finished in 2004 and did 33 years at Undercliffe and four years at Bradford & Bingley.

In 1997, Shuttleworth assumed the presidency of the BCLUA - the first umpire to hold the position as previously it had been held by the league president.

In recent years he has scored for the Yorkshire under-17s, Yorkshire over-50s and Bradford Junior League's Joe Lumb team.