From pornstar to international umpire: Colourful journey of Garth Stirrat
Garth Stirrat, a former porn star, switched his career to cricket and officiated International and domestic matches. The Kiwi umpire announced his retirement on his social media in 2021.
New Delhi: New Zealand native Garth Stirrat's unusual cricketing story startled many cricket fans. Born on November 5, 1968, in Porirua, Wellington, Stirrat, before making his debut in cricket as an umpire, made his living as a porn star. In his late 30s, Stirrat began his career in the B-grade pornographic movies with a stage name of Steve Parnell and juggled between his porn star job and a role at the New Zealand Professional Golfers Association (NZGPA). Later, Stirrat caught up with his negligible actions and was forced to resign from his chief executive post of the NZPGA.
Stirrat appeared in the Sex Around the World movie in 2003 and also featured in adult magazines for a photoshoot. Later on in his life, Stirrat switched his career to cricket and started playing some club matches, and ultimately, in 2019, he moved to umpiring.
According to a British performer, Christopher, whose stage name was Danny Wild, revealed that Stirrat received Rs 20,000 per scene and was working six days a week. His monthly earnings were around Rs 2.67 lakh (£3,300) a month at that time, which was a lucrative amount to live life, but Stirrat decided to move away from the high-income job and enter the cricketing world.
Stirrat's umpiring career
Stirrat officiated only a single International match in his career as a fourth umpire in a T20I match between England and New Zealand on November 5, 2019, in Nelson.
'Was proud as punch to be involved in the T20I in Nelson as 4th umpire. Wasn’t a bad way to spend the birthday too.' Garth Stirrat stated after officiating his first International match.
Apart from his single appearance in men's International cricket, Stirrat also officiated many domestic matches and women's International matches.
The 57-year-old umpire bid goodbye to a 16-year umpiring career in 2021 via his post on social media.