Contributed by reader Zhang Quan
Tampines Sports Hall, April 2, 2009 – A C Division Badminton Championship match between Maris Stella High and Anglican High was ruined by an unreasonable ‘Mr. Umpire’. A shot that was ruled in by the SJI linesman was ruled out by the umpire 10 minutes after the game ended.
With the overall score at 2-2, I was standing right behind the court cheering on our Marist, Daryl Ho, as he gave all his best fighting for every point till the score came to 29-29. Daryl made a dive for the shuttle after his opponent Wong Jia Ren did a drop shot. Daryl’s return saw the shuttle bounce off the net, go over, and fall 20cm inside the singles line.
Without hesitation, Daryl and his opponent approached each other for a handshake and we all went to celebrate his win with him. Disappointment could be seen on the faces of the players of Anglican High and it was a sign they accepted the defeat.
However, when we then walked towards our belongings preparing to go back to school, ‘Mr. Umpire’ came and told us that he saw the shuttle was out and we had lost. We were shocked because it was obviously in. Then he cowardly walked away without saying a word and a lady from the annoucement table came up to us and said, “You all should respect the umpire’s decision”.
But he had made the wrong decision and how are we going to respect that?
There are so many unanswered questions.
Why was he with the Anglican high coach and players right after a match?
Why did he change his decision and told us 10 minutes after the match ended?
Why did he say the shuttle was out when everyone around the court
including the SJI linesman said it was in?
Is this what SBA trained the umpires to do?
Is this why the standard of Singapore sports can’t go far?
We know we won and ‘Mr Umpire’ himself knows it too. We want our honour and victory back because we deserve it.
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A side question, who are in the quarter-finals?
the umpire may be the one makes the final call, but 10 minutes AFTER the match? after the players have all come to a decision themselves?
there were so many spectatirs who witnessed it, yet it went against maris stella? this would definitely cause fear in students when they are playing next time, as they dont want to be unfairly treated
What we want to see, is fairness in sports and competitions — what’s the point if the game is unfair to begin with?
Based on the postings of others so far, as well as the little reports in newspapers, this was what happened
1. According to the line judge, the final shot was in, and players were already accepting the results.
2. The umpire did not make a different decision on the spot, only to make a corrected decision after a long period of time (even 1-2 minutes is quite long to me, because as the shuttle drops, it’s either in or out — what’s there to think?)
So, in simple but crude terms, the umpire sucks. By the way, does anyone have his name? I think a kind of blacklisting might be useful.
Anyway, this saddens me the most.
3. Where it was a unanimous decision by the Inter-school Sports council to back up the decision of the umpire.
Okay, so according to them, there’s no evidence of bias from the umpire. Maybe so [Which is why getting the name of the umpire would be useful to run a profile check.] But he’s a very incompetent umpire indeed. Can the Singapore Sports Council at least ensure that this crap will never get to officiate a national / international level of competition ever again?
Best
Y.J.
I am a fellow marist. I am quite taken back by this incident. As a student learning social studies, I can definitely tell that the source from zhang quan is a reliable source. I will prove it.
Thanks to our social studies teacher form Maris Stella like, Mrs Tan Chin, Ms Joanna Lee, Mr Low Tung Man, I’ve learn that reliable can be proved by cross-referencing. Zhang Quan stated that the shutter was in at the last point. Sources 30,31,32,33 from, a Spectator,a student from S.J.I and two students from R.I states that the shutter was in. Thus this statement from zhang quan is definitely true. I have cross-referenced with not 1, 2 or 3 but 4 sources to prove the reliability of Zhang Quan’s statement that the shutter was in. Secondly, Zhang Quan Stated the fact that the umpire changed his decision after 10 mins, which was dubious. This can be cross-referenced with source 30, where the student form R.I stated that the umpire changed his decision 10 mins ltr. And it can also ne supported with source 31, where it stated that the umpire sort of ‘CHANGED’ his mind. With such a clear arguement, it is fair for me to say that only those with a low IQ cannot see that Marist Stella has won the match. And needless to say, such a wonderful masterpiece definitely shows that my Social Studies is of a very high calibre! 🙂 To all Social studies teachers in Marist Stella, please grade me for my piece of work.:)
How much more ridiculous can singapore become? With such umpires, it is not difficult to see why Singapore has nvr gone far in sports. There is no sportsmanship in the game. I myself witnessed this indident. It was obvious that deep down in their hearts, Anglican high themselves knew they had lost. I’m certainly not being biase but how could the truth be unaccepted when it stands out so much – the shutter was clearly in, the anglicans’ had ‘accepted’ defeat and the umpire stood without voicing out any of his views. Sometimes I really can help laughing. I mean, what do you thinks this is? Child’s play?
Marist stella has definitely won. I was a R.I spectator and this could be no further from the truth – the shutter was in. I was just wondering if the umpire was really paying attention to the game or was he just day-dreaming? This is my train of thoughts of what actually happen: The umpire probably did not pay much attention to the last point for some reason( who knows? tired? lazy? Sleepy?) and when the last stroke from marist stella sealed the game, the umpire probably pretended he was watching and sort of ‘accepted’ marsit stella’s truimph. But further on, he was probably notified by anglican high’s coach that it was out and thus, change his mind, announcing to marist stella that it was out. This act certainly questions the umpire on his professionalism.
Is this some sort of joke? I’m from SJI and there’s no doubt that the critical point was won to Mariss stella. Only my grandfather would’nt be able to see clearly that the shutter was in. I could imagine the fire fuming within the mariss competitors. Don’t worry mariss, I’m sure the truth will reveal itself.
I am from R.I and I was watching this match on the 2nd of april. I thus comment as a neutral party, not standing on any side. At the last point, I am definitely sure that the shutter was in as it was extremely clear from my view. There are two distinct errs that i could not understand. Firstly, how could the umpire possibly saw that the ball was out when it was clearly in? Even spectaters from SJI and Victoria School were puzzled by the umpire’s decision. Secondly, ‘IF’ the shutter was really out, how could the umpire possibly announce it 10 mins later? This must be some sort of conspiracy(I’m not pointing fingers). Therefore standing on the neutral side, it is only fair for me to tell the truth which was what i saw. I would’nt really care much about this incident actually, as I’m from R.I, but if you were to ask me, I would certainly say that Maris Stela has won.
Nobody is blaming the players. The issue here is transparency and fairness.
I am glad someone saw the match. Can u decribed further?
Was it in or out?
Did the lineman say it in?
So there is a delay, whom did the umpire discussing with?Lineman
………
i am one of the many players watching the match that dae.i can only sae that this is just a super sad ting to happen on such an important match.i got nothing to comment but i jus feel players from marist are exaggerating tings.it was nvr 10mins.i suppose was mayb 3mins.u tink the umpire took 10mins juz to get down from his seat and walk a half a court?!.and 20cm is too much.is lyk a 15cm ruler plus another 5 cm.lols.i am sure its just bside the line!dun exaggerate the facts jus to make everyone support u,MARIST!!get ur facts right,please:D.and anglican high is just an innocent party.its normal for them to cheer when the umpire told them tat they win.wad if umpire tell marist they had won?they would hav cheer too!.dun tok about if anglican players hav moral or not!u shud ask urself am i in a position to learn from my coach and start scolding the umpire,scolding the organisers,full of vuglar language and scolding at ahs coach??.those hu were not there that they shud stop commenting on tat matter,pls!:D
the atrticle wrote that the shuttle was 20cm inside the singles line. if its 20cm than everyone would have saw cos its damn obvious but its not 20 cm. 20 cm is quite far ok. you all cannot blame anglican boys. its not their fault that the umpire made the wrong say, we cannot only hear what maris stella has to say. than thats only their view. than what about anglican? they also got their view. maris stella is not the only one that is right. i know this incident has cause alot of things but you cant blame anyone. maybe just protest to sack that umpire.
lol so how’s the result now?did AHS win or MSH?pls reply TQ
But the whole story was reported in newspaper, wasn’t it? Was the reporter from Marist? which reported that the lineman and the neutral did not agree with the umpire’s decision…. it seemed the coach from the other camper play a role……
in my own point of view, i think that we should all respect the umpire decisions. by the way, this whole article is written by a Marist, so i dun think we should believe this side of the story fully. we should hear the side of anglican high players point of view.
trying putting yourself in the anglican high boys shoes and what do you feel what you are being attacked like that?! they might not be even aware of what happened! i totally agree with anonymous! this is just the marist boys’ point of view! how can everyone judge this situation just by a post from a marist point of view? i give my support to anglican high boys. go anglican!
from what i have heard, it was the maris stella guy who scooped the shuttle to make it go over, therefore the umpire gave the point to anglican high. i think we should understand the whole situation and then comment on this conflict. why is everyone attacking anglicans when they do not even know what is really happening? why is everyone putting the blame on anglicans when the truth is still not out yet? whats done is done.
helloo??? the game is like OVER..so i feel you guys should just move on and forget it. sure you can appel but what use is it gonna make? if the umpire really did make a bad call then action should be taken. but only on him. yeah. so just try ur best next year.