Players may come and go but one of the great constants of cricket in Mount Isa over the years has been the umpiring of Dennis Petrie.
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For 18 years he has been donning the hat and the creams each Saturday in summer for umpiring duties for Mount Isa Cricket and there he was again on Saturday officiating at the six-a-side competition in the sun all day, and while players played two or three matches, he was out in the middle for all nine games.
But don’t feel sorry for him, Dennis said he loved every minute of it.
“You are out in the middle of the action, I just like cricket – that’s why I took it up,” Dennis said.
You are out in the middle of the action, I just like cricket – that’s why I took it up
- Dennis Petrie
Standing in the hot summer sun means he has amazing powers of stamina though he admitted it does take it out out him.
“It’s alright while you are doing it but I’ll probably go home now and be buggered but while the game is going I’m fine.”
Dennis did try the game from the player’s angle when he first came to Mount Isa 30 years ago.
“I gave it away because it was too hot but I was young then, now I’m old I can do it,” he said.
Dennis’s umpiring services are in high regard across North Queensland.
“I do the (Goldfield) Ashes over in Charters Towers and I also do junior carnivals in Charters and Townsville,” he said.
Without the aid of hawk-eye and snick-o-meters Dennis has to judge by eye alone but generally gets it right.
“I know I made one mistake today, and I’ll go and tell my wife – you ask her – ‘I hate making mistakes’ and she’ll say ‘you’re only human!’.”
And do the players give him much lip for questionable decisions?
“Not really, in all the times I’ve done it,” he said.
“I’ve had people apologise, they smashed the bat and at the end of the game they come and say sorry. It’s just heat of the moment.”
Now retired from his job at the mines, Dennis has no intention of giving away the umpiring any time soon.
“I love doing it and I’ll keep doing it as long as I can,” he said.
And it’s not just cricket in the summer, Dennis has also done 17 years umpiring for Mount Isa AFL in the winter months, following in his father’s footsteps as umpire in both codes.
That’s goal umpire in AFL, we asked? “Yes, jeez I’m not running around in the middle,” he laughed.
Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
