BANKS SPURS' surprise surge in the BOA Senior Netball League was stalled on Monday night when their feature match against M & N Auto St Mark's was not played because of a shortage of umpires.

Netballers on both teams were all geared up for the 7:30 p.m. encounter at the Netball Stadium but only one of the two match umpires, Cheryl Fagan, was available to officiate.

Efforts to get a substitute for the other umpire, Veronica Harris, who had played a match earlier in the night, were unsuccessful.

"The Barbados Netball Association (BNA) is very disappointed that the Barbados Association of Netball Umpires (BANU) was unable to accurately fixture umpires for the senior game on Monday night, which resulted in the game not being played," BNA president Annette Beckett told the DAILY NATION.

"BANU is entirely responsible for the fixturing of umpires during the season, and so the unfortunate situation which occurred was out of BNA's control. Were we made aware earlier that they would have been a problem, we may have been able to fix what really was an unfortunate set of circumstances.

"The BNA would like to apologise to the many patrons who were at the stadium to see the game, the players and all the other stakeholders who would have been affected by the non playing of the game. The match will be refixtured at a later date."

Just before the game was officially called off around 8 p.m., hopes were raised that another umpire had come forward to carry the game but by that time, management of the St Philip-based St Mark's side felt that it was too late to start the game.

"I am very upset. The girls had to pay bus fare. Some had to work tonight and they asked for time while others switched their time to get here to accommodate the team," Spurs' coach Sandrene Jordan said.

"The game could have been played as far as I am concerned because last year, they had games that were fixtured to start at 8 p.m.," she added.

Seven-time queens Spurs have started the season in a blaze of glory, winning their first three matches, including two upsets over champions C.O. Williams Rangers and Pine Hill St Barnabas in the one-round Seniors League and are eyeing their first major title since 1991.

"Our fans are coming back out to watch us and the spectators are coming back to netball so this will be a disappointment for them," Jordan said.

"People are stopping me and asking when next we are playing because they want to see us play. Look, the television cameras are here but there is no game for them to film," she said.

A number of spectators, who had paid the $3 entrance fee, wondered whether they would be refunded as they had come to watch the senior match.

The five other matches in the lower divisions all went ahead as scheduled.

ezrastuart@nationnews.com