they want their money well in advance of the Christmas holidays.

Eight clubs and two of the counties associations are delinquent in paying the fees, the Bermuda Cricket Umpires Association said yesterday.

"We are not about to disclose the names of the clubs and organisations at this time, but we are urging all of those who haven't paid to do so as soon as possible because it has been awhile that the money has been outstanding,'' said BCUA secretary Randy Butler.

One club that he was prepared to identify was Somerset Bridge, which still owes $400 from the 1997 season, the only club still in deficit for that year.

It is not known what it owes from the just completed season.

According to Butler there are about eight clubs among the delinquents, although some have paid portions of their bills throughout the season. In the case of two counties, however, there has been no money received whatsoever for umpire's duties.

Most of the money owed by clubs come from officiating in overs and open cricket -- an umpire's fees being $54 for overs play and $62 for open. In each case the BCUA gets ten percent of the fees for operating costs.

"You can't blame our association and our members for wanting the cash. The association needs it for our normal operating cost while our members want it for personal reasons as they have a right to because its owed to them,'' said Butler.

"The BCUA need it to function, we have to pay bills for books, badges, overseas affiliation dues among other things. It's a pity that this has to be a usual headache for us, but with Christmas coming we are becoming very concerned.'' Butler is asking everybody who owes money to contact Luther Wilkin (292-4381) or himself at 238-0803 as soon as possible. Meanwhile the BCUA could be sending one of its biggest delegation to the biennial West Indies Cricket Umpires Association's conference in New York in June. This is the first time the event will take place in the United States. It has already been held twice in Bermuda Former Bermuda umpire Dennis Heath has been re-elected secretary of the Association of Cricket Umpires of Southern California. In a continued bid to promote the sport of cricket on the US West Coast, Heath plays a major role in assisting to spearhead moves to bring in prominent ex-players, mostly from Test playing countries, to hold clinics and speak at various functions -- the most recent being Sunil Gavaskar of India.

Gavaskar noted the importance of the association to developing youth programmes while establishing a rich diversity of cricket tournaments in the region such as the California Cup which was started this past April.