Mark McFarlane will be remembered as a high-level Canterbury representative player who became a leading international umpire in a lifetime of service to softball.
Mark died in Christchurch on the 20th November 2025, aged in his early 70s after a battle with illness, but his legacy will continue in the generation of umpires he helped mentor and in the generous donation he and partner Nicola Ogier – herself a three-time NZ Umpire of the Year - have made to the new indoor training hub at Dynasty Ballpark. Between them they have donated $500,000 towards the $1.2 million project set to open next year.
Mark was one of Canterbury’s leading softballers in the 1970s and 1980s alongside his younger brother Paul (a New Zealand international) before successfully transitioning to umpiring in the late 1990s.
He came from a softball family (his father was a Canterbury team manager) and joined the Richmond club as a junior schoolboy in 1959. Mark was a Canterbury age-group junior before moving to the North Island where he represented Waikato’s senior representative as an outfielder in 1972 at 18 in an era where they were led by world-class pitcher Kevin Herlihy.
After returning to Christchurch in 1975, Mark joined Paul at the Christchurch United club where made an instant impact as a top order contact hitter with home run power and as an agile outfielder with speed on the basepaths.
In November 1975, Mark hit the headlines with two spectacular catches in a 2-0 win over arch-rivals Papanui, the second denying power hitter Brian “Tubby” Waine a certain home run.
Not surprisingly, he was soon after named in the Canterbury men’s representative squad for the home national tournament at QEII Park over the 1975-76 New Year period – an important tournament for hopefuls for the New Zealand team to contest the first world championships on Kiwi soil at Lower Hutt in February 1976.
Those were the days when South Island sides struggled to beat the North Island’s big guns, but Mark impressed against the top teams. He got Canterbury’s only safe hit off Kevin Herlihy in a 2-0 loss to Waikato and collected a RBI single in a 2-1 defeat to Hutt Valley, who included four leading New Zealand players.
Mark was often among the top batters in the club competition He was a leading light in the United team that became Christchurch’s dominant club after a spell of Papanui dominance.
In his playing days, provinces were largely limited to one representative at the national interclub tournament. It made for a compelling pre-Christmas competition as teams vied for the coveted “club nationals’’ spot.
United and Papanui were regularly rivals, including in on memorable playoff series in December 1979 where Mark distinguished himself with a glorious catch in left field to prevent Gordon Phillips from collecting a home run.
In 1981 new representative coach Tom Hurinui named Mark as Canterbury captain and he led by example in the Jefferies Cup final, batting 1.000 (two hits and a sacrifice) and scoring the first run in a 4-1 victory over Southland.
Hurinui later praised Mark’s leadership and performance after Canterbury were unlucky to miss out on the top-four at the 1981-82 nationals in Hutt Valley.
Mark and clubmate Bryan Mountford (a 1976 world series representative) later left United to form the Belfast club where Mark was, for a time, club president.
He completed his senior grade career at Suburbs, again alongside Mountford as they helped nurture a young team . They also helped lead the Canterbury B team at the 1985 national tournament at Christchurch’s Porritt Park.
Mark was involved in coaching – he was head coach of the Canterbury under-18 boys at their 1984 national tournament.
After a break from the game he turned up in a new role – behind the dish wearing an umpire’s mask.
Mark came from an era where characters abounded on Canterbury diamonds and leading players were never averse to giving umpires friendly “advice”. But there was still plenty of respect for the officials, who featured some of the best umpires the Canterbury game has seen, including Joyce Phillips, Jack Rochford and John Eagar.
Mark’s decision to become a Blue in the late 1990s was a big deal. He was arguably the highest-profile male player in Canterbury to take up the role. His game understanding and knowledge of how players ticked made for a successful switch.
Anyone who played or coached in a game with Mark at the plate never failed to be impressed with the consistency of his strike zone or his decisive calls at the bases.
Mark attained his Softball NZ Level Four accreditation in 2000 and received his International Softball Federation (now World Baseball Softball Confederation) qualification in 2004.
By 2011, he had worked 24 international tournaments or test series, umpiring 225 games, including over 100 full internationals and 55 New Zealand national tournaments, including 24 national tournament grand finals. He went on to make many more appearances at the highest level both here and overseas.
Mark umpired in Australia, North America and Japan as well as at a little-known softball venue in Pohnpei – capital of the Federated States of Micronesia - for the Micronesia Games.
Promoted to the National Umpiring Staff in 2004, Mark was Softball NZ Umpire of the Year in 2007 -
Among his plum assignment were exchanges to the 2008 and 2011 ISC World Tournaments – the world’s elite interclub event in North America.
Mark was at first base for the 2008 final – the first between two Canadian teams – when Black Sox catcher Patrick Shannon won a gold medal with the Kitcher River Sharks at Kimberley, Wisconsin.
He was also on the grand final crew at Midland, Michigan in 2012 for another all-Canada affair when Jarvis Travelers – featuring Black Sox stars Brad Rona and Donny Hale – beat Hill United Chiefs spearheaded by Australian ace pitcher Adam Folkard.
But Mark’s career pinnacle was men’s world championship appointments in 2009 in Saskatoon, Canada and in 2013 in Auckland.
Mark gave back to umpiring off the diamond, much as he had as a player and a coach.
He was Canterbury Umpires Association chief umpire for many years and for over two decades was a popular and effective clinic facilitator right up until this year.
Mark served as a New Zealand deputy chief umpire – with oversight of the South Island – from 2007 to 2013 and again from 2015 to 2017. He received a Softball NZ Distinguished Service Umpires Award in 2018.
Mark’s son Steven was a Junior Black Sox infielder at the 2001 under-19 world championships in Canterbury, and like his father and his uncle Paul, was a Canterbury senior representative.
Away from the diamond, Mark ran a successful painting company. Being his own boss enabled him to fit in his umpiring commitments here and abroad.
While his training hub contribution will ensure his name lives forever in Canterbury softball circles, Mark’s ultimate legacy would be a procession of former players following in his footsteps by putting back into umpiring after hanging up their gloves.
