In a career that has taken her to the peaks of the game, Southland’s Kristie Simpson has set a significant personal milestone in becoming New Zealand’s most capped national league umpire.
Kristie, 36, has now umpired a record 120th national league matches after taking charge of the Magic and Steel in Rotorua on May 18, after whistling her first in 2010.
The 2021 ANZ Premiership Umpire of the Year has broken the previous record of 119 matches held by Jono Bredin.
“It’s a wee bit surreal in a way,” she said.
“It’s not something you set out to go and achieve. I enjoy what I do and I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to do it for quite some time.”
And Kristie has done it all from the remote rural environs of the small farming district of Tokanui in eastern Southland, where travel to and from games has been the biggest challenge. She has also had two sons Mannix, 11, and Baxter, 8, during that time.
“I had Mannix at the end of my first season of ANZ. It’s definitely a challenge to come back after having kids and certainly takes a lot of drive and determination to come back after your second one,” she said.
“You’ve got to enjoy it because you spend a lot of time training and a lot of time away. The challenge of the game and being able to get out there and give the players the best opportunity to showcase their skills, I really enjoy it and that’s what’s kept me going.”
Farming a large sheep and beef property with husband Logan, an hour’s drive from both Invercargill and Gore, Simpson is grateful for the support and understanding of her extended family who help make her busy life work.
Kristie has been close at hand to see the significant shifts netball has made in the 12 years she has been officiating.
“When I began, we had just started getting into the semi-professional era,” she said.
“Players were starting to get paid, now we’ve got players who are fulltime and this is their job. That means there’s more on the line for players because it is their livelihood.
“It’s more professional and that includes umpires. We do a lot of fitness, training and analysis of games. We need to understand what the players are trying to achieve and what players do to help ourselves. I’m always watching games and looking at what I could do better.”
Due to her location, Kristie has a lot of her own equipment at home for training purposes while having any number of beautiful backdrops to choose from to go running. Variety in her schedule is key to staying enthusiastic and motivated.
Two particular instances stand out as highlights for Kristie during her lengthy career.
The first happened in 2017 when the Steel were preparing for a match against the Tactix in Christchurch and their team van was involved in a road accident. Some were hospitalised and missing four of their best players, there was a mad scramble to assemble a team together in short time.
“I was on that game and because we see the players week-in week-out, we do get to know them and I’ve never been in such an emotionally-charged game,” Kristie said.
“The Steel had to bring up a number of players from the team below and they managed to win and that game always stands out for me for all the emotion that was involved in playing it.”
The other special memory was when the ANZ Premiership got up and running again when Covid-19 first struck in 2020.
“To be able to get things going and get some form of normality in amongst what was quite unusual times was very cool. And being involved in Finals is always a special experience,” she said.