Life Time Award for long serving Malcolm
show with a huge main event fight.
Local boxer Lee Crossland, who won the prizefighter competition at the last show, takes on the experienced Gary Ormrod, who lost out narrowly in the semifinal last time.
The two former unbeaten pros – Crossland 1-0 and Ormrod 3-0 – will fight it out over four rounds.
Moving on from this, Crossland is planning a return to fighting as a professional.
Tickets are £25 and you will be able to pay on the door – depending on available space.
AFTER 27 years of dedicated service to badminton umpiring, Malcolm Banham has been given the Life Time Achievement Award at the recent Sports Officials UK National Officiating Awards.
Whilst being captain of Woodvale Badminton Club and chairman of the ‘Master Lock & Safe’ Southport and District Badminton League, the Southport resident has dedicated almost three decades of voluntary work to badminton umpiring and this award is the culmination of all that work he has given to officiating within the sport.
“It is absolutely unbelievable. It is certainly nothing that I expected or even thought about”, says Banham.
“When I got the phone call, I was speechless in terms of how I would have even been thought of in that light.”
The Sports Officials UK Life Time Achievement Award is not just for badminton, but for all sports in the UK.
The award is to recognise a certain official’s work from grass roots all the way to the elite level, and then committing themselves to developing the next generation of officials.
After being nominated by both Badminton England and the Badminton Umpires Association of England, Banham was shortlisted for the award.
“When I first became an umpire, I was so nervous it was ridiculous.
“I did not know any umpiring outside of Southport even existed, and I never really had any long term aims.
“So I was quite shocked to be selected for tournaments not long after getting started and go outside of Southport.
“At each stage of my career, each progression that I have made, it always surprised me that I was being selected for the big events.”
The moment Banham wanted to become an umpire was when he was playing in the Southport League and he was getting frustrated about certain players fault serving on a regular basis.
So the chairman of the league at the time, Mike Hyde, suggested that he organise an initial training course to provide qualified umpires in the local area.
“There was one player that I had played a few matches against and he was clearly fault serving all the time, and it won him many points.
“I complained to the league and the chairman said that I therefore should organise some umpires, and that’s how it all started.”
Malcolm has now officiated at over 400 events all over the world and over 4,000 matches – including around 300 finals.
They include various Badminton World Federation tournaments to World Championships, Commonwealth Games and the Olympic Games, which included umpiring the men’s doubles final in 2004 at Athens.
“All of these achievements have completely excelled anything that I had ever dreamed of.
“Obviously my biggest highlight is walking out for the men’s doubles final in 2004 at Athens for the Olympics.
“That has to be anyone’s pinnacle. The men’s doubles is classed as the major event in every tournament.
“I have been fortunate to umpire finals all over the world. So things like that always stick in your mind.”
Badminton in this country is usually observed quietly.
“However in Asia, it is more like a football match. Umpiring in Malaysia is always memorable.
“They are the loudest and most passionate crowds in badminton.
“When you call a fault against one of their own players, stuff gets thrown from the stands and boos ring out across the arena.
“Moments like that make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.”
When most people think of sports officiating, they usually think of football referees, who don’t often get given respect by the players or spectators.
“But in badminton, that is rarely the case.
“A lot of the players are very respectful. Certainly players from the Far East are very respectful.
“It does not stop them from misbehaving though. But they certainly respect our authority.”
Malcolm continued: “It’s like anything. You have to earn the respect of the people that you’re umpiring.
“If you get the respect of the players, then they do tend to sit back on doing anything that they may get punished for.
“For example, if you call fault against players, they do tend to accept it more once they have seen you around the tournaments.
“They then accept the fact that you are being as fair as you possibility can be.”
Malcolm has continued to be heavily involved with the development of the BWF umpire training programme and will be appointed as chairman of the BWF Umpire assessor panel from the start of 2017.
“If you start young enough and get good, you can get to see the world at somebody else’s expense, as you are invited by the BWF.
“I would never have been to half of the countries that I have visited if I wasn’t an umpire. So that in itself is something to aim for.
“But if you’re used to talking to people and are able to handle them, then that’s all that is needed to become a good umpire.”