New Challenge. Want to try refereeing

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

A
Travel – The highest level you reach as a referee, the more involvement you will have at European Competitions, Rabo Direct Pro 12 League and the Ulster Bank League

Is that Time Travel?:pac:

but this is something I'd be interested in, cheers for the post

swiwi_ wrote: »

I nominate awec.

Refs are supposed to stop arguments, not start them.

Stheno wrote: »

how got would you need to be?

Very well got indeed!

Stheno wrote: »

feck i meant fit!!

Not hugely fit I’d imagine at the lower levels, but I’d say a ref covers the equivalent of a 5k run during a game.

I am already associate refereeing.

Find it very rewarding reffing games at my home club that the branch can't nominate a full referee to.

It's a good route to follow into full refereeing (one I intend to follow) if you want to stay closer to home but still make sure fixtures are fulfilled.

Not to detract from the great need for branch refs which you shouldn't worry about going for if you fancy it.

I have the IRFU's refereeing director's card and a general offer of as much support as I need if I chose to commit to it which I'm sure would apply to any new branch refs.

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

It varies considerably depending on the level of games you referee. Fit enough though.
More than that but only really at higher levels which a new ref wont be doing that soon unless they take to it very well and progress very quickly through the ranks
You start refereeing the younger age groups not any adult rugby so you would need to be fit enough to be able to properly manage a group of 30 13/14 year olds running around for close to an hour and then the 5/6 subs who can come on for either side through the game.
Lower levels of adult rugby will be far slower than most kids games but new refs generally wont be doing those games that quickly from starting to ref

I keep a tabs on my distances covered with my iPhone. For a 40 minute game of tag I'll cover about 2 miles. For a game of 15 a side it comes in at about the same pro rata.

amcalester wrote: »

Is there a general age profile of new referees and what is involved in becoming a qualified ref?

Age: Anything from 20 - 60.
Whats involved? Do a few courses.

My experiences:
The more you have played the more helpful. It's not essential but it is defo helpful. If you played at a high level of AIL and want to go into reffing you can be fast tracked if they see you have the right talent and are willing to give it the time it needs.

A lot of newbies will do a lot of the lower matches and then once they get a few decent assessments they will get moved up if they have the talent.

Generally. the lads who go up higher do a few games around the country either at IPAS or AIL. I tend to stay at mid level as it suits me better.

Originally, I did it because I wanted to be a coach and thought the reffing would help me understand aspects of the game more as I didn't play at a high level.

If I got involved in it younger I reckon I could have gone on quite high but then kids came just as went up a few ranks and I kinda stay at that mid level (J1 - J3 usually). I love going to watch my kids matches so you can't have it all. I am happier to stay at mid level.

So that means a mixture of games, some higher level than others. I generally train 1 - 3 times a week.

Also, when I first started to be honest, I hadn't a clue of aspects and basically got away with it and then only started getting better at it with practise and taking feedback from assessors and getting more training courses. There were times when I reffed a match a long time ago and didn't enjoy it but once I found I got the hand of it to be honest it is extremely addictive and enjoyable.

So why is it so addictive?
Because you get better at spotting things, better at communicating and better at enabling a good game of Rugby. Your game control and accuracy gets way better. E.g. in a game last year I pinged an x-AIL LH for boring in twice. I was 100% confident in this and explained his hip positions, head positions etc what he was doing and what I needed to see. Black or white and it was up to him to do what I needed.

There would have been a time when I would have just missed thar - or said something stupid: "now lads, we have scrummage correctly today... blah blah blah", it was much better being way more specific with the LH.

Another example, in nearly every game you see something different.
For example, a prop who has come out of retirement but scrummage to save his team because no-one else will play Prop and keeps giving away penalties. He is trying his best and apologising.

Your heart goes out to him (player empathy is very important especially in amateur rugby) but what do you do? Do you keep trying to manage the situation (it's only a 1.5m pitch); do you get rid of him YC or do you shout hold the push earlier or do you just go straight to uncontested?

What do you do? You have to keep control? These things happen every game; you chat to other ref's and assessors; you find ones who are really good and they give great tips. Then when it happens again - BANG. Done. Sorry LH, 3 penalties, Yellow Card.

So summary, for me the things that are most likely to mean this is for you.

1. You love Rugby. This is an absolute must. You must love the game, its skills; its complexity; its values.
2. You want to stay fit. You must be able to keep up with play. Simple metrics, can you do 3km in 12 mins? Can you do 10 * 100M's in under 4:25 (I'm making them up, other people will give more realistic times). Note: I was 10* 100 in 4M last season and was well able for J1 - J3.
3. You are prepared to take feedback (especially from assessors). In nearly every game there is something that should make you question. For example, a player got injured when a team were building phases to score? Did you emergency stop? Was it serious enough to? Did you see the injury happening?
Can you make a good decision if an emergency stop is needed? Or did you tell the physio to come onto the pitch provided the ball wasn't near the player before the match? Has the physio got the cop on to do this? If you have any doubts, you emergency stop obviously but how are you going to deliver that message to players who thought they could have scored?

4. You don't have an ego; or if you do, you are good enough to make up for it.
Most aren't.

Some refs love shoving the pedantic knowledge in people's faces. I have never see these guys do well. They just annoy people. Go to a match and annoy people. I don't get this; probably a little power trip. Thankfully, we have very few of these and they usually give up as the ego ref is not something that is really tolerated.

The lads with good people skills, passion the game and skills (mainly footwork, speed, acceleration, change of pace) usually fly along.7

For me, what I love about it most is that feeling of a good game and chatting to the players and coaches afterwards about various technically aspects; for example, you might have a team that do a move in defense or attack you hadn't seen before and you can chat to them ask them what do think they will make or close space. Or you might say, I thought you killed them anytime you went wide; was there any reason why you didn't switch your centres, throw a skip and have your FB hit the line flatter?

And they might say back, we were trying to do that off third phase or after we they identified they had pulled a backline player in?
So you ability to read games just gets better and better and then you enjoy your more. New refs is just thinking about laws,
Now I find I am thinking about 4 or 5 things about each team. This starts from watching them warm up. Who are they throwing to a lot in lineout jumps and do they tend to fire it out quickly or catch drive? You work on that mental model and are ready to expect certain things and what extra things you will need to look for and what time of positioning would be helpful? A team that go wide are more likely to throw to the tail? What about a 10 who can't tackle - is he going to standing at 2 on defensive throws? Then what happens if he doesn't? Will the other team be smart enough to target him? What does that mean for your positioning? It will generally give you have an extra second or two to get to the place you need to?

Players who can't tackle well -- once you start spotting them - offloads are more likely to come thru them? Does that mane you'r better to be flatter so you can spot a forward pass out of the tackle? Or spot the deep support line?

Anyway - that's what I mean - do you love Rugby?

That's the most important thing for me.