It’s official – the Army is the place to be for netball

Dan Racey, former Army Reservist, and now a high-level umpire, tells 5TH QTR about his experiences both in the Army and in officiating.

Dan, you were umpiring at the England Netball National Schools tournament recently and were struck by the British Army branding and presence, having been a reservist yourself. Is that right?

It is, yes! My relationship with the Army goes back a quarter of a century. I joined the Territorial Army (TA), Royal Armoured Corps, when I was 17, because I was at college and looking to go to university. I did a year at uni and then thought, “Oh, I’m not really sure about this”. And then I had the opportunity to go out to Iraq. So I did that in 2004. I served with 1 Mech Brigade HQ and carried out what is called force protection, looking after people who were trying to sort out the water, the pipelines, the electricity, the phone lines, all of that sort of lifeline stuff to the city of Basra. I did that for seven months, then came back and then later I went to Afghanistan, so it was pretty full on!

Tell us about that.

DR: That was 2008 or so with the Queens Dragoon Guards, known as the Welsh Cavalry, where we were basically trying to stop the Taliban preparing their supply lines. And then when it got to fighting season, we started fighting. And in between those two big tours, I went to America and all over the UK on various different exercises with the regulars and the reserves.

I started off as a private soldier, then managed to qualify as a physical training instructor. And that gave me the opportunity to teach recruits, and I ended up getting more qualifications and teaching officer cadets and in the last couple of years of my time in the Army I started to get into netball. I had got a job as a teacher in an FE college, and I was looking for a sport which was non-contact that I could get boys and girls to play, and I thought it would be all really nice and calm. Little did I know! Played well, it is incredibly fast-paced and I started wondering about umpiring it.

I went along to my wife’s training session to try and get some coaching tips off of the coach and sat there with my notebook when the umpire said: “Stop taking notes. Pick up a whistle. Go and umpire.” I replied that I didn’t know the rules and she said: “Well you’ve got to learn them then!” And it’s grown from there.

How exactly?

Well, I took to it and they put me on an umpiring course, called the Beginners Course back then, now called Into. I turned up at this course in Warminster and the lady running it was very much an old-school netball sort of tutor and assessor. She became my mentor and got me through.

And so I started going up the levels and that was the last couple of years of my Reserves career, before my daughter was born. I left the Reserves to get our weekends back but little did we know that as you get higher up in the netball world, the more matches you umpire and the further the distance you have to travel!

And did you get all your qualifications?

Covid kicked in but yes, I had some brilliant assessors and so much help and got my B Award, and then I was doing a national tournament and Kate Stephenson, who had umpired the World Cup final, was the assessor! She was so encouraging, pushing me to do my A Award. She gave me loads of praise and cool feedback and that spurred me to the A Award.

So things were progressing quickly?

They were! Not long after getting my A Award, I attended another national tournament, then on the Monday morning Gary Burgess phoned me! He said he needed me to go and reserve umpire a Super League game. I was like, “What? I’ve only been an A Award umpire for a few months. And he said, “Listen, you’re ready to do it if we need you, so crack on!” That got me thinking I could try a little bit harder and see where it goes. I started doing a fair amount of NXT Gen and loved that.

It’s so good in that it’s the next generation of players but it’s the same really for the officials, who are all developing their skills and experience at the same time. It’s so cool, you get the best of both worlds. And we get to be fourth officials and reserves on Super League games.

And presumably you are assessed regularly?

We are, yes. The umpires aren’t professional, so we have other jobs and other commitments, but we still get assessed every game, and we’re always kept in the loop as to the new changes that are occurring so that if and when we do step up, we’re ready.

It feels like you have been really welcomed both in the Army and by the Netball Family. Would that be fair?

Absolutely. Both experiences have been so positive. In my netball officiating career, I have always been welcomed with open arms; everyone is so open and so keen to help and do their best for the sport. And the Army, similarly. There are so many opportunities to go down whichever route you want, and sport can be such a big part of the experience. And Army netball is just getting bigger and bigger, for both women and men. In fact I’ve umpired some of the EMMNA games, including the international against Australia at Nottingham last year!

And are you still the odd one out as a man umpiring netball?

We’re still in the minority for sure but every now and again, you see a young man come through – there are a few talented ones at the moment. It’s nice to think that even though netball’s been around for a hundred years and more, it is still developing. And I’ll finish by saying that Annabel, my daughter, started netball this season and at her events, it’s always good to talk with people and they will ask you, “What did you think about this situation or this situation?” I had a chat with a couple of girls who must have been 15 and 16, and it’s about trying to guide them and enthuse them enough to push on with getting those extra qualifications to become an umpire because it really is a truly supportive family.

Find out more about careers in the Army at jobs.army.mod.uk

To find out more about the British Army and the opportunities it offers visit army.mod.uk