Catch up

Doesn't time fly when the season is on, I've just realised I've not posted since September....naughty me.

Well I've done 5 games since my last post, a couple of school games at the local grammar school, a level 6 in London, a level 8 in Bucks and Senior Vase 2nd round game (that was lovely...not).

Game 1 - Daily Mail u15 Cup Rnd 1 - School in Burnham v School from Maidenhead..... It was the Burnham school's first outing in the DMC and they came up against a much better side, one way traffic, game last 36 minutes 0 -50. Rules of the DMC dictate that the game ends when a winning margin of 50 points is attained irrespective of the elapsed time. Fair play to the Burnham boys who didn't give up at all. Important for the referee to be sympathetic in these situations, that doesn't mean let the weaker side get away with stuff, it means for example, if team A is getting battered in the scrummage and team B knocks on in team a's 22, give team A loads of advantage time to either run or kick the ball away rather than blowing too soon for a scrum that they're only going to lose.

Game 2 - U18 RGSHW v Whitgift - 2 very strong rugby schools, a very tight game, little incident to write about. I have to say refeering RGSHW 1st team and other school teams at their level is an absolute pleasure. They're usually very well disciplined and skill levels are excellent. I've certainly had the pleasure of refereeing rugby stars of the future.

Game 3 - London 2 North - Maroon V Yellows - Always ensure you're well warmed up before the start of any game, no matter how hot it is. I only did some light stretching before this game and paid dearly. I sprinted away at the kick off and almost immediately my calf went into spasm. I hobbled through to half time with the score 13 -13. The home physio had seen I was in trouble and came over to have a look. She examined my calf and told me not to carry on....2nd mistake....I did. Home side scored a cracker on about 38 minutes to bury the visitors. Game over, 13 penalties no yellow cards.....I'd got away with it. 3 missed games and 5 trips to the physio to get me back on the pitch....ouch!

Game 4 - BBO Prem - A&C v Stow-on-the-Wold - 1st game back from injury, gentle level 8. Chiltern started out favourites, having only lost once in 6 outings and Stow only won once. Stow defended excellently for the first 20 mins and led 3 - 9. Couple of management opportunities presented themselves. 21st minutes 1st half white number 8 in at the side ruck 15m from his own goal line, "penalty advantage" I call, as the Chiltern 9 tries to move the ball from the ruck, the 8 (on the floor) kicks the ball away......yep....yellow card. The second incident followed 8 minutes later. This time a Chiltern player was looking for a rest. Whites have a maul and get to about 10m from the oppo's try line. The defending hooker tried to pull the maul and is unsuccessful, he ends up on the floor, he then grabs the ball carriers legs and refuses to let, the maul collapses 5m short of the line.....10 minutes for the hooker. The game was won and lost at the beginning of the 2nd half with Chiltern running 4 tries in 8 minutes. Final score 47 - 9.

Game 5 - Senior Vase 2nd Round - Green v Blue

Green won the game easily in the end in what was a vile encounter. Blue arrived from their west country home with little intention of playing rugby. Post match got a quote from their skipper "Most of our lads only come out for a fight on Saturdays". The entire game was like a bubbling pan with the lid rattling ready to come off. I managed the game tightly and had only 19 pens which was pleasing considering one of the teams wasn't interested in playing. Sadly I had to issue 3 red cards...the simmering pan eventually boiling over. 21st minute 2nd half Green 8 late tackled Blue 10. Blue 10 being the charming character he is, decided that he needed to express his annoyance by repeatedly punching green 8 in the head. Blue 1, feeling left out, decided that he needed to Knee green 8 in the head. Green 12 wasn't going to let his team get any more so ran in from 15 metres away...end of scuffle. Time off, seperated both sides. Blue 10 and 1 to me, 10 red for foul play, same to 1 off you go boys. Green 12 red for retaliation and running in. To restart the game, penalty awarded to blue for late tackle, reversed for foul play. In hind site, I probably should have yellowed the green 8. Many would say the red for 12 was harsh......it was. Players running in from distance are a nuisance and given that the lid had just come off the game, his actions left me no choice.

Sometimes you'll come across a team that just plain horrible, blue was it. You'll spend the entire game trying to keep the lid on it. When a situation occurs you must stamp firmly on it, if you don't, the game could turn into a brawl. Happy days!

A New Dawn

Well greetings readers, many apologies for the long absence but life went on hold for the 2nd half of last season for some personal stuff.

I'm back now and looking forward to what could be an interesting season. I was hoping to be on the Panel for TJs this year but some reshuffling above of some senior referees temporarily blocked my way so I'm sticking with the whistle for the time being.

This season sees the introduction of 13 ELVs designed to make the game more open.....we'll see.

Had my first league game of the season this last Saturday, Western Counties West, Light blue versus darker blue and white. Quite an exciting game, score at half time 8 - 22 in favour of the visitors, with the final score 30 - 27 with the last try of the game coming 4 minutes into overtime. As a rule I don't advise players exactly how long is left, even when asked. I usually reply with "not long" or "less than 5 to go" and always point out that there is no such thing as "Last Play!"

On 37 minutes of the 2nd half (score 25 - 27) things had started to get a little heated so I called both captains for short chat. "Chaps it's getting a little messy, tell your teams to keep it calm. The team with the best discipline in the last 3 minutes would likely be the one to win the game" and how right that was. We had a sumber of phases of play interspersed with the occasional scrum for good measure, as the clock passed 40 minutes I advised both skippers that we were at time. The home side kept posssession and the away team conceded a penalty 20 metres in there own half, I advised the home team they weren't able to kick for lineout so they opted to run the ball then amazingly another penalty conceded by the away team, this time only 25m away from their goal line, home side didn't hesitate to run the ball and took advantage of an overlap to score in the corner and as they say on the telly "the crowd went wild". (Score 30 - 27).

Very exciting game for the neutral supporter.

We had one incident in the game hugely impacted by the ELVs. In fact by the very ELV that I didn't think would make a single bit of difference....Law 22 The corner post. The ELV states "The corner posts are no longer considered to be touch-in-goal except when the ball is grounded against the post". In the first half the home side kicked cross field by the winger to run onto the ball, the kicked ball landed in field and hit the corner post, bouncing into the try zone, the away team all turned to look at me and were apparently waiting for me to award them a 22 drop out. Immediately my mind raced as I tried to re-run the sequence of events and the law in my head. To give myself time I asked the TJ if the player been in touch at all, he advised not, so taking a deep breath "I'm happy then boys, it's a try". Clearly the away side hadn't recalled the ELV. A sound lesson in play the referee's whistle.

Looking forward to my game this weekend, local grammar school 1st XV including a few England u18 players....better get my running shoes on!!

Ref behind bars

Happy New Year readers, I can't believe it's been weeks since I last posted.



I had an interesting game this week, I was sent to Aylesbury prison to referee the prison team, Aylesbury Athletic vs Bucks Universities.



I've never been inside a prison before and really didn't know what to expect and wasn't at all sure what the players would be like.....I shouldn't have worried their behaviour was immacculate.



The gym facilities are superb, really clean and modern.



The prison coach informed me that the pitch had drained well despite overnight rain.......I'd hate to see the pitch when it's really wet as this one was pretty damp!



Aylesbury prison houses long term offenders between the ages of 18 to before their 22nd birthday. Many of the players haven't played rugby until they got inside and to be playing level 9 rugby is really quite amazing.



Bucks Uni were firm favourites before the game but the prison boys had other plans. The game started at a good pace and Aylesbury took the lead with an early lead with un-converted try which ruffled Bucks' feathers, they soon equalised with a try under the posts which amazingly was missed by the Bucks 10.



3 penalties in the remainder of the first half (and that was all we had) saw the score go to 8 - 11 in favour of Bucks, so very tight stuff.



The 2nd half was just as tight and remained scoreless until 12 minutes to go where the prison boys finally rolled over and leaked 4 quick tries leaving the final score at 8 - 38. We only had 4 further penalties.

For the record, any club or referee that visits Aylesbury Athletic and worries that they're entering a hostile / intimidating environment, will be pleasantly surprised. I had a thoroughly good time.

Exchange to Bury

Apologies for lateness of the posts boys and girls, real life has taken over...the buggers expect me to work!!!

27/10/07

Bury St Edmunds newly promoted to London Div 2 North faced this season's league leaders Chingord who haven't lost a game since the league opener way back in September. You'll recall I met them earlier in the season at London Nigerians, where they comfortably won.

This was not a particularly good example of a level 6 game, with lots of silly mistakes made by both teams. I was wired up to my advisor so he could hear my instructions to the players. This is always enjoyable for me because he gets to hear to nice quiet stuff that he wouldn't otherwise have heard. It usually has a positive effect on the report grade too.

There were a couple of interesting points in this game. Firstly, the Chingford 7, a good player, but a pain in backside from a refereeing perspective (that's his job I guess as a), gave me some chat after I'd awarded a penalty against him, I marched him back 10m which worked to shut him up. A couple of phases later, Chingford kick the ball to Bury, I turn to track the player carrying the ball and "WHAM" I get taken out with a full arm tackle and get knocked to the floor. Fortunately I'm nearly 16 stone so didn't feel a thing. I was in between, although a few metres away from, the carrier and the tackler. Yes you guessed it, Black 7. I had to make a split second decision whether I felt his actions had been deliberate. I couldn't be certain and was conscious that if I dismissed him I'd struggle to justify it in a report and the crowd could have taken it as me trying to cope with the embarrasment of being on my backside. I chose to stop the clock at the next convenient break in play, called him over for a wee chat with uncle Andrew. He quickly stressed that it was accidental, that I was just in the way. I wasn't sure so I suggested he listen to me and make sure he stays out of my attention zone for the remainder of the game. He did the right thing after the match and came and apologised in the bar after the game.

The 2nd interesting point is a regular topic of misunderstanding for many players, spectators and referees alike. Late in the 2nd half, Bury were putting chingford under pressure and eventually won themselves a penalty. Given the scoreline they had no option but to kick for touch and go for a driven lineout. The kicker missed touch and the Chingford 15 (funny character - couldn't catch a cold) caught the ball and called for the mark. I blow the whistle and award the free kick, a team mate says to him "you can't do that" so he panics taps the balls and get mullered by half a dozen Bury players and loses possession with a knock on. I was laughing hard at this point and my advisor could see the comedy too. I asked him why he'd done that when I'd awarded him the mark, he said that one of his team had told him he couldn't, so I said "ah I got overruled then, fair enough".

Just for clarity you can mark any kicked ball in the 22 EXCEPT from a kickoff / restart.

For a match report of the game click here Chingford match report

Tadley vs Yatton

13th October Tadley played host to Yatton from near Weston-Super-Mare for the 1st round of the EDF Energy Intermediate cup. Both teams were promoted to Level 6 last season and both are finding level 6 tough.

The challenge of the game for me today was one of one's own reputation. I refereed Tadley in the Berkshire cup final against Bracknell at the end of last season. I had one of my better days and even thought they lost, Tadley were really impressed with my refereeing.

As soon as I arrived at the ground players, coaches and spectators recognised me and instantly people were saying what a great game they were going to have with me refereeing.....I was definitely falling into a pit and doomed to fail.

The game started briskly with Tadley not listening to my instructions at the break down, 4 quick pings and out comes a Yellow .........crowd less than happy :)

http://www.tadleyrfc.co.uk/article.asp?article=511 Tells the rest of the story, Tadley eventually won 18 - 3, and they were happy with my performance despite sin binning 2 players and showing another a red. Two halves went 49 minutes each with stoppages, I was exhausted and the achilles are now really playing up.

My advisor was generally happy with my performance, despite a quiet 10 minute period where I seemed to switch on and let either side do what they wanted ;)

Interesting observation, Tadley have an incredibly fast winger, but he's so fast, when he gets tackled he's always isolated and leaves no option other than to get pinged for not releasing the ball.

I'm poacher turned gamekeeper next week, going to watch a referee from Hampshire coming into Bucks to do a level 7 game, be nice to have the day off.

Sunny Devon

I always enjoy my trips down to Devon, it's always so mild down there. My game this weekend was Withycombe v Wadebridge Camels. Withycombe hadn't won a game all season and Camels had won 3 on the bounce so arrived full of confidence.

The game was unremarkable with both teams struggling to put together more than a few phases of play despite having excellent playing conditions. A few management challenges were addressed with a couple of yellow cards and one incident of foul play, 'Punch', swiftly dealt with a red card. Other than that, a hotly contested, spirited battle from both teams with the hosts eventually running out winners 17 - 6.

The game kicked of at 3 so had to set the ol SKY+ to work its magic for the England v Australia game, although at roughly 3.30 it became clear that England had with the joyous cries from the Withy club house.

I had a decent game from a refereeing standpoint, both achilles are still very painful. My advisor from Devon was someone I'd met for my last game of last season and gave me my first 'ND' for 2 years. He was pleased to see me and worryingly could remember just about everything that was negative about that last game. I chose to forget about him and get on with my game and it paid off. I was happy with my performance and so was he.

Some advice for junior referees about advisors; They're human and they're there to help you, not to criticise for the sake of it. Don't change how you referee just because you're being watched. Luckily for me, I'm watched more often than not, so I don't worry. A good advisor will give you no more than 3 things to work on at any time. When giving feedback should give that as a 'Good, bad, good' sandwich. If he says something you disagree with, don't worry, you're not going to change his mind so just stay quiet, be warned though he may be right. When you get the report, highlight the areas that you agree with and work on those, ignore anything else that you can honestly say is not accurate.

Intermediate cup match this coming week, Tadley v Yatton, looking forward to it.

Good luck to the England boys this coming weekend.

What a world cup weekend

Well anyone that predicted that the World Cup semis would include England, Argentina and France, well done to you, have a pint on me.

The Aussies got beaten up, though I have a question for refs...."Why is it that the dominant team in the Scrum is usually the one to get penalised first?" England got banged a couple of times early on when in fact it was plainly obvious that the Aussies didn't want to scrummage. Note to junior refs: It is the responsility of both teams to compete at the scrummage, the weaker side has to take the hit, not back away as the Aussies did.

Wayne Barnes - Kiwis, give the bloke a break, you lost the game for yourselves, he didn't lose it for you. Yes he made a mistake, he allowed a score from a forward pass......it looked to me that they didn't gain an advantage from it so game on. Unfortunately we're involved in a game played by humans, reffed by humans and all of us make mistakes..including the All Blacks, so get over it, move on and accept that the Kiwis don't like playing in games that matter.