Emu Valley Cricket Association matches are set to go ahead on Saturday without official umpires because of a feud between the board and the Emu valley Cricket Umpires Association.
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The EVCA fined the EVCUA $100 for not attending the league's pre-annual meeting on July 5.
The umpiring body has refused to pay the fine and the EVCA set a final payment deadline of 6pm on Thursday, November 25 or the EVCA would withdraw the services of the EVCUA.
EVCA president Ron Gray said he was hopeful the situation could be worked out prior to Saturday.
"At this moment we are at an impasse and things aren't going the way we'd like,'' Gray said.
"We're hoping it can be sorted, but who knows?
"If it's not sorted out we'll have players officiate matches on Saturday.
"It's not ideal for both associations, but as a board we were put in a situation where there are by-laws and rules in place and it's our responsibility to make sure that those by-laws and rules are followed by everybody.
"We had three clubs not attend that meeting and they all got fined and they paid the fines.
"It's unfortunate because we need umpires, but the umpire association needs to realise that rules and laws are voted on at AGMs and we need to uphold those by-laws."
EVCUA president Tony O'Connell said his association had no intention of paying the $100 fine.
"We won't be paying the fine,'' O'Connell said.
"One of our representatives didn't attend the meeting and the only reason we didn't attend was because it was an accidental mistake.
"They (the EVCA) shouldn't be fining volunteer umpires. All our members agree that we shouldn't pay the fine.
"The league said to us that if we're not going to pay the fine are you going to withdraw your services?.
"We don't want to withdraw our services, we want to keep umpiring the game.
"We haven't stood down, we're prepared to umpire and we want to offer our services to the cricketers. The league has withdrawn our services.
"We asked for the fine to be a suspended fine, but they wouldn't look at that.
"We won't be paying the fine, it's that simple."
The EVCUA has one umpire officiate each EVCA division one and division two game each Saturday and players from clubs take on the square-leg umpiring duties.
Umpiring numbers are down this season and the association has struggled to fill all division two fixtures.
Umpires are paid $60 per team each Saturday.
"Under the taxation rules we're classed as volunteers,'' O'Connell said.
"The EVCUA doesn't pay us and we don't pay affiliation fees to the EVCA. We're our own association and we align with Emu Valley as umpires.
"We don't have any voting rights and we don't pay fees to the EVCA, but they think they're able to fine us. We can't work out why."
Gray said it wasn't ideal to have players officiate games.
"We're hoping some new people come forward (to umpire),'' Gray said.
"We keep asking the clubs to help as well (with attracting umpires). I understand it's hard for the clubs to find players, but it shouldn't be up to the two associations to find umpires all the time."
Read more: Umpires threaten strike action
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