Sports figures attend the funeral of cricket legend Dickie Bird

Cricket stars from Yorkshire and beyond were among the mourners who gathered to bid farewell to legendary umpire Dickie Baird at his funeral earlier.

The Barnsley-born miner’s son was 92 when he died “peacefully at home” on September 22, according to Yorkshire County Cricket Club.

The service at St Mary’s Church in Barnsley was attended by former England cricketers Sir Geoffrey Boycott and Michael Vaughan, and was followed by a private family-only cremation and wake at the town hall.

Well-wishers gathered at Bird’s statue in Church Lane as the funeral procession stopped for a moment of reflection.

Invited guests also included Yorkshire Premier Colin Greaves, former Director of Cricket Martyn Moxon, sports commentator John Helm and former Sports Minister Richard Caburn.

Sir Geoffrey and Greaves both gave eulogies and a poem by local poet Ian Macmillan was read.

Sir Geoffrey made sure the colorful personality of his friend of nearly 70 years shined through.

“I first met Dickie Baird when I was 15, at the time I was playing cricket at Hemsworth Grammar School,” Sir Geoffrey told a packed church.

“Gerald has called me for years.”

“It’s amazing that with all the nerves he had as a batsman, he became a great umpire because he could channel all that nervous energy into good decisions,” he added.

“Dickie was refreshingly different. Eccentric but fair. You would be hard pressed to find anyone who didn’t like him.”

Bird officiated in 66 Tests and 76 one-day internationals, including three World Cup finals, between 1973 and 1996.

He started out as a player, playing for Yorkshire and Leicestershire before injury cut short his career in 1964.

Bird was awarded an OBE in 1986, an OBE in 2012, and a Freedom of Barnsley Award in 2000.

In 2009, he was immortalized by a statue in Barnsley depicting him raising his index finger to indicate the batsman was out.

At Yorkshire’s home ground, Headingley, he paid for a balcony outside the dressing room for the players to sit and watch the match. The balcony and the clock on the grounds bear his name.

Former England and Yorkshire cricketer Ryan Sidebottom said that Bird was so committed to Yorkshire cricket that he would be on the field even in county matches that he was not officiating.

He said: “He would go out and look at the wicket and walk around. But he looked like he had just come back from a night out, like John Travolta in the 1980s, because he was dressed in a full suit with a big collar and tie and fancy suits and wide trousers.”

“We would regularly see him in different suits, some naughty suits, some proper naughty suits.”

Bowler Sidebottom retired in 2017, after taking more than 1,000 wickets in his career, and said Bird “absolutely loved” the sport.

“A great man and a lovely man who would do anything for Yorkshire cricket. He just loved Yorkshire and was very passionate about the game and Yorkshire in general,” he said.

And it was the love of Yorkshire and its people that Yorkshire County Cricket Club president Colin Greaves was remembered for at his funeral.

“He was known to not be the first one to walk into the bar, but he was a very generous man indeed,” he said, adding that nearly 1,000 children received scholarships from him.

Among the young cricketers who received prize money from Dickie was Harry Brook – now an England international.

Speaking to the BBC when he turned ninety two years ago, Bird said that the secret to his long life was his love of sport and exercise.

“I run and go out to the local football field here in the local park and spin around the ground. I feel like that has benefited me.

“I would like people, older people, if they could try to do some exercises, move their arms, run right away, it engages the brain.

“I will continue my exercises as long as I can.”

As a young man, he played for Barnsley Cricket Club alongside Boycott and journalist and broadcaster Sir Michael Parkinson.