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Not enough, let's take the good with the bad.
So many referees - so few I can remember, let me peer through the haze of time:
Top few:
Mark Calverley - that sandy blonde hair mixed with strict discipline always works with me.
Coops - Love the way that arm comes out and he jogs up to the spot - any minute now someone from Neddies is gonna tip the toys out. Apart from that knows his stuff, and doesn't get put off.
Kyle Christie - Confident, does the job, and can keep up with play.
Ecky - Back to back performances in the last month - must be looking at a finals guernsey.
Othersiders
1.Joape Soko - seriously all that shouting - what's going on here?. Players came off feeling like they'd been in Full Metal Jacket.
2. That little guy with beard - all he ever says is he's deaf. Is he joking?
3. Brian Cleary - After managing to give his seeing eye dog the slip, Brian wandered onto a rugby
pitch, and spent the next 80 minutes replying "no it wasn't!" to shouts of "offside", "head
high", "tip tackle", and numerous other unimportant grumbles.
how about Lyndon Bray?....did alright for himself!
Coops has a great future as a ref, so he should, as a player he helped a few refs interpret the laws in his time. Until the last match, he was also a huge favourite with Neddies but the lopsided penalty count lost him a lot of support. Neddies just consistently missed those 50/50 calls.
If there is any assistance I can give to our Refs, it would be to look at the bigger picture:
eg If lineout throw is crooked and defending team did not contest then WHY pull up the game?
If ball carrier is held up in the tackle please call a maul at the same time, it is frustrating when one minute within a splitsecond of a ball carrier being held up a maul is called and then in the very next minute a ball carrier gets to take multiple seconds to wrestle himself to the ground.
Assistant refs must help Refs with incorrect entry, surely that will be good for their development. So many times players enter a ruck or maul incorrectly from the sideline side of the field. The game is using the width of the field, the ref is in the middle, he cannot see a player entering from the sideline side if there is a ruck 5 - 10 m in.
Took a bit longer to get off topic than I thought!
Hansie; I am inferring from your post that you at least wish to become an accredited Referee Coach, if not an active referee?
The crooked lineout throw: Did the team not contesting know it wasn't going to be straight and that was why they didn't contest? There are two types of restart where there is (in theory) a contest for the ball and the lineout is one of them. To keep the theoretical contest alive, you MUST throw it in straight. I can't see that ruling ever becoming negotiable.
Ball carrier held up in the tackle: Is not a tackle. Surely the players know what constitutes a maul? Have I been giving them too much credit all this time?
While you are helping the refs, remember there is a checklist they are going through that relates to things like:
Is it a tackle?
If not, has a ruck or maul formed?
Where are the arriving players?
What are the arriving players doing?
During this the ref can see the arriving players from the "other side". Unless the player is crawling in or was already on the ground and sneaks in that way. It's just whether the individual ref notices it and then acts.
Also, remember it's only Premier Grade refs who have the luxury of ARs. All other grades won't have ARs for another week, then we'll all have them.
Additionally it's the individual ref's decision on what to instruct the ARs to assist with. Some refs are more than happy to have assistance with anything "clear and obvious" that the AR sees that the ref seems not to have. Others (one in particular who is known to most metro rugby viewers/players) will pay very little heed to any AR call unless they have the trust in the individual AR. Being an AR for that type of ref is a complete pain while they get used to the ability of the AR. Also, some ARs are just not very good at being ARs. Some highly-ranked referees are among that group. In the late 90's the top-ranked ref was (imho) a hopeless TJ/AR and I think he would agree.
I saw Joape Skoko a little while back and thought he went really well. I wasn't listening to what he said ('cos it was at Lark Hill and you're a bit far from the pitch), but in watching I was surprised he was reffing Champ 2's; I thought he'd gave been appointed to higher-ranked stuff. Just my impression from the 20 minutes or so that I saw him.
Rugbyref, Sprogrugby and Ecky,
Any thoughts on this chap called Burns?
To quote the great man himself, “There is no such uncertainty as a sure thing.”
He's a student of the game, has boundless enthusiasm about said game and referees very well. He's come good this season after tailing off a bit last season. A good clubman too.
I like the cut of his jib.
He has lost his shaving kit too. Dunno what that's all about...
I reckon the top 10 refs will come from: Burns, Kellam, Cooper, Sherriff, Calverly, Ninkov, Chapman, Hill, Waetford, Burnett, Skiba, O'Brien and probably Stewart, Hilmi and a couple of Davises.
Last edited by Ecky; 08-08-13 at 23:00. Reason: Thought of sumink else
Ecky. I've seen you at your worst as a referee, even the game where as assistant ref you were chatting on your phone during a grand final, and despite that, even at your worst, I would put you ahead of all of them ,except perhaps for Kellam, Cooper, Sherriff and Calverly.
And that's only when they're having an exceptionally good day.
You mean this grand final?
He was only posting live updates on TWF
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