The ECB Association of Cricket Officials (ACO) represents scorers and umpires for and on behalf of the national governing body, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
ECB ACO is the membership organisation responsible for the recruitment, training and development of all cricket officials.
It has a separate board that works with the executive to run the association. It works at national, regional and county level to have a direct link with its individual members.
As well as providing a fun, rewarding way to engage with the sport, training as an official is a great way to support the health of the game. You don’t need any previous experience or qualifications – just a willingness to learn. Whatever level you aspire to, whatever pace you wish to learn at, our education programme has a pathway for you.
Membership of ECB ACO
ECB ACO Full Membership is yearly from each 1st of January. The fee for 2025 is unchanged at £30.
Membership of ECB ACO includes:
· Monthly online newsletters
· Option to attend monthly online seminars organised by ECB
· Notification of development options within County
· Notification of options to umpire or score in ECB sanctioned competitions
· Be eligible for the ECB Umpire Progression Pathway
· Be eligible for the ECB Scoring Pathway (new pathway to be launched in 2025)
· Insurance provided (UK residents only)
· Personalised Certificates
For more information on the benefits of your membership please go to ACO-Membership-2025
History of ECB ACO
The Association of Cricket Umpires and Scorers, commonly known as ACU&S, was set up in 1953 by the umpire, Tom Smith, as the Association of Cricket Umpires; scorers were included in the title several years later. Tom was its first Chairman and its first president was Douglas Jardine. It had a membership exceeding 8,000 in countries all over the world before it was merged with the ECB Officials Association in 2007 to form the ECB Association of Cricket Officials (ECB ACO).
ECB ACO is currently the largest group of cricket officials in the world, with almost 8,500 members.