Five Level 1 Refereeing Courses took place at Elgin, Perth, Gordonstoun and Aberdeen with a total of 49 attending. The course in Stirling in October had to be cancelled due to lack of numbers; more are planned for Dundee in January and Perth in February.
Mhairi Hay has just refereed a sevens tournament in Dubai and has been appointed to her first women’s international, Italy v England, in February. Fraser Balharry has been refereeing Premier 2 regularly and was recently been promoted to Grade 3. Charles Samson has now done three Premier 2 games and Jean-Marie Burel continues to progress, with his first Premier 2 game coming up soon. Paul Wood is refereeing well at Premier 3 while George Whitecross has done three Premier 3 games. In the Junior Referee Academy, Lloyd Linton has now done two Premier 3 games and Andrew Mitchell recently undertook his first.
Monthly society meetings have taken place in Midlands, Aberdeen and Highlands and have been well attended with much good discussion on current refereeing practise.
With the season in full swing, all Society referees have had an opportunity to develop and officiate at a higher level. Further training and development at the weekly training sessions is proving popular, with regular attendance from some 30 referees.
It is always pleasing to see referees’ hard work and commitment rewarded, with several being promoted to a higher grade. With this positive outlook on progression of referees within the Society, it is hoped that more club volunteers will take to the whistle and officiate on behalf of the Society. If you have an interest in the game and want to get more involved, think what refereeing could offer? For course details throughout Scotland visit the Scottish Rugby web site.
The West of Scotland Rugby Referees Society had their first Quiz and Curry Night at their new training venue. The Royal Marines Reserves Establishment at Govan kindly opened up their recreation facilities for the evening. The quiz proceeded under the guidance of the quiz master – Vice President Jim McCabe – and the Royal Marines put a team into the event! After a lively session the evening concluded with an excellent curry dish, well not one but three different dishes! The event was so successful that more social events of this nature are being planned.
Unfortunately, due to the awful weather conditions, the monthly fitness testing was unable to proceed due to health and safety reasons so the search is on, yet again, for indoor facilities where the Society can complete the testing especially the sprints.
The referees training nights are now up and running and numbers are steady. Sessions have been varied and have included the dreaded fitness tests. The good news is that all those attending seem to be getting fitter.
The Society had a very successful exchange with the Manchester Society which saw Colin Reavley and Craig Smith travel south to referee games. The games went very well for both of them, they both enjoyed their experience and have gained a great deal of confidence from their trip.
Andrew McMenemy was rewarded for his performances in his first two Premier 1 games with an appointment to referee Wales Women v Canada Women. David Crudge and Cammy Rudkin are performing well at Premier 3 and 2 respectively while Norman Jackson and Stuart Ramsay have handled their first Premier 3 games well.
A Foundation course and also a Level One course have been undertaken with further courses planned in the near future.
James Matthew, Kevin McGhee and Brett Williams from Edinburgh have been joined by Charles Samson (Midlands) and Andy Moss (North) in the new Academy.
The aim of the facility is to provide these referees with more focused coaching and development to move them towards the SRU group of referees.
All the referees have been busy with local appointments and have been reviewing these games themselves as well as receiving reports from the nominated coaches. In general, the feedback has been good, bearing in mind that all the referees have less than two years experience.
In the coming weeks we will have our first meeting with feedback and coaching based on both the coaching reports and also the referees’ own views of the games they have handled. Preparations are well underway for a proposed exchange where all the referees and support group will travel to officiate in an area outwith Scotland.
“Having spent the best part of six months out with a knee injury, I finally made my return to refereeing in mid-October at Stirling University. Thankfully the knee withstood the match – although my lungs were certainly working hard to keep me going! Following that match, I embarked on a programme of two matches a week, for six weeks combined with nutritional advice from Richard Chessor and a fairly brutal training regime that Ken MacEwan had pleasure in devising. So far everything seems to be going okay and my knee is getting stronger all the time. In December I will make my return to Magners League rugby with Cardiff Blues v Connacht followed by two Amlin Challenge Cup matches in Toulon and Madrid. Thereafter I hope to push on and get more professional rugby under my belt in the remaining months of the season.
I would like to thank the staff at Spire Murrayfield Hospital; Nicola Maguire at Glasgow Warriors; and Richard Chessor and Ken MacEwan at Murrayfield for all the help and support that they have given me over the last few months that has helped me regain fitness ahead of schedule.”
Andrew MacPherson
PETER ALLAN
“October and November have proved to be their usual busy selves in terms of refereeing commitments. October saw the return of the European Competitions and I was fortunate to be in France both weekends refereeing Clermont v Viadana in Round 1 and then Racing Metro v Bayonne in Round 2. Both were enjoyable occasions that saw some good rugby being played and also presented the opportunity to catch up with some of the Scottish players now competing in France. The one disappointment was the time of the kick-off in Paris (8.45pm) which meant a day visiting the art galleries of Paris (honestly!).
November saw no respite and I was lucky enough to be involved in two Autumn Tests (Assistant Referee at England v Argentina and Wales v Australia) whilst refereeing Ireland A v Argentina Jaguars. The A game actually took place the same weekend as the Wales v Australia game so that tested my fitness – if Ken MacEwen reads this he will be happy to know that I felt good in both games so perhaps he could ease up on some of our sessions! I also became the first Scottish referee to officiate in the Guinness Premiership when I took control of Northampton v Harlequins, a game that I really enjoyed and hopefully an experience that other Scottish referees get to sample.
Training continues unabated and it is great to have Andy back to full fitness as that deflects some of Ken’s attention away from me. I have been really impressed with how Andy has worked his way back from his injury and hopefully our ‘friendly rivalry’ in training will help me to push on in the second half of the season.
The outlook looks equally busy as Europe rears its head in December and I am also due to take control of the second of the Edinburgh v Glasgow games at Murrayfield. I am looking forward to that game; hopefully there will be a big crowd in attendance and the game lives up to its expectations as both sides are playing some great stuff.”
This edition of TEAMtalk is now available as a paper publication, highlighting some of the stories here. Should you wish a copy for your club please email teamtalk@sru.org.uk
If you have a story for the next edition please email us at the same address.
Mhairi Hay