ONE needed a bit of extra cash for an overseas trip, one was thrown a rule book by a late friend and the other wasn't even allowed to play cricket when he was younger.
Three Warrnambool and District Cricket Association (WDCA) umpires are celebrating milestones this season, with the trio deciding to take control in the middle for three vastly different reasons.
While Laurie Lowe is in his 31st year of umpiring for the WDCA, Geoff Stephen and Charlie Rivett are both in their 20th.
Rivett umpired for Hopkins Nullawarre Association before he officiated for the WDCA.
"It was hard to get umpires back then so Bill Bourke, who lived in Panmure, said 'here's a rule book, go learn how to umpire'," Rivett laughed.
"It was a bit different back then. Now you have to do a course."
Rivett played cricket before he umpired, lining up for Pomborneit in the 1950s to keep fit for footy.
"I didn't think I would umpire and I didn't think I'd be going this long but while I keep enjoying it, I'll keep doing it," he said.
The 74-year-old Allansford resident used to umpire division one but now mainly takes charge of division two and three matches.
"We've got a few younger ones now, which is good," he said.
"It's better to have them than an old, grumpy bugger like me."
Stephen is a former Koroit cricketer.
"I played on and off for 19 years," he said.
"I was going overseas and wanted some extra pocket money so I decided to umpire."
He never predicted he would become one.
"Mainly because I was a player who used to give them abuse," he quipped.
"The players are pretty good these days.
"I've said I was going to retire about three times but the enjoyment keeps me in it.
"You meet a lot of people through cricket.
"I think I'll keep going for a while longer."
Stephen ? who mainly takes care of division one ? encouraged people to become involved in umpiring.
"Even if you haven't played cricket," he said.
"There's a good bunch of blokes there to work with."
Stephen cited umpiring at the 2002 Australian Country Cricket Championships in Warrnambool as one of his career highlights, while he was also honoured to take charge of a Premier Cricket match in Warrnambool about four years ago.
Lowe is envious that Stephen and Rivett also took to the crease as players as it was something he never got to do.
"I had a very strict mother who wouldn't give me time off to play," he said.
"I had to work on our dairy farm.
"I used to listen to cricket on the radio.
"Just before I was 50 I decided I wanted to do something in my life and took an interest to umpiring."
The 80-year-old cited his career highlight as umpiring a match between a blind team and a Warrnambool representative side about 25 years ago.
"The ball had a rattle in it so they could hear it coming," he recalled.
He has umpired about 20 division one matches in his career, saying he prefers to take charge of the lower grades.
"I didn't enjoy division one because there was too much pressure," he said.
"I've got division four this week but I normally do division three."
When asked about players' behaviour over the years, the veteran replied : "there's a lot of things I could say but I won't because I'll get sued".
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