Cape Town: Former South African international umpire Rudi Koertzen was killed in a car crash Tuesday morning near a town called Riversdale, a local website reported. Rudi Koertzen was 73 and is survived by his wife and four children. One of the most respected umpires in world cricket from the late 1990s till 2010, Koertzen had officiated in nearly 400 international games.
“The world-famous cricket umpire, Rudi Koertzen, and three other people were killed Tuesday morning in a head-on collision near Riversdale. The 73-year-old Koertzen from ‘Despatch’ in ‘Nelson Mandela Bay’ was on his way back home from Cape Town after a golf weekend,” ‘Algoa FM News ‘reported.
The former umpire’s son, Rudi Koertzen (Jr), confirmed the tragic news. “He went on a golf tournament with some of his friends, and they were expected to come back Monday, but it seems they decided to play another round of golf,” Koertzen (Jr) told the website.
Koertzen was inducted into the ICC’s Elite Panel of Umpires in 2002 and was a part of it for eight years. During his tenure, he officiated as on-field and TV umpire in as many as 397 games, including 128 Test matches, a record 250 ODIs, and 19 T20 Internationals.
Koertzen had his share of controversies too, including continuing with the 2007 ODI World Cup final between Sri Lanka and Australia in near darkness due to a wrong interpretation of rule, which forced the ICC to not give him any assignment during the inaugural World T20, which was held in his own country, in 2007.
