“Men have helped us in the past … until we are able to stand on our own legs, and we now look to them to encourage women to umpire. There is no doubt … that women will not trouble to learn to umpire as long as there is a man who will do it for them.”

Hockey Field and Lacrosse magazine, 1923.

On 9 February 1923, the All England Women’s Hockey Association (AEWHA) held its first ‘open meeting’ on umpiring. 13 Counties were present as well as representatives from the USA!

The meeting afforded an opportunity to critique the activity of the newly formed (in 1921) AEWHA Sub-committee for Umpiring. Two of the women who spoke at the meeting, Frances Heron Maxwell (then AEWHA President) and Vera Cox (AEWHA Secretary), were feminist hockey and cricket pioneers determined to inspire women to take up umpiring!

Discussions took place between male and female attendees about offside, on the training of umpires and the differences between women’s and men’s hockey rules. Specific points were brought to life with demonstrations and photography.

One notable result of the meeting was the creation of the first national Umpires’ Register (distinct from the Register for men) and the arranging of formal umpire training for women. Men were not to be barred from umpiring women’s hockey by the creation of the Register, but it was felt that women should be empowered to learn to umpire for themselves, not least because, in those days, some of the rules for the men’s and the women’s games were different.

Hockey pioneers Vera Cox (centre) and Frances Heron Maxwell (known as Max; right). Originally a black-and-white photograph, this image was colourised for a talk at The Hockey Museum in 2022. Below: the AEWHA Presidents’ honours board featuring Mrs Heron Maxwell. FromThe Hockey Museum collection.

Instructional films for umpires

The AEWHA were early innovators in the use of film as an instructional tool. This was a progressive evolution of their use of still photography to bring to life match-play situations, as used in the ‘open meeting’ on umpiring in 1923. The digitised cine-film shown below is from The Hockey Museum’s collection. It offers advice for female umpires and was created in the early 1930s.