Friday Bulletin – Tackle Height & Spotlight on Changes from the AGM

The RFU published the adopted law changes this week on tackle height. The legal tackle height in community rugby will be lowered from below the shoulders to the base of the sternum following extensive research.

The law changes come into effect form the 1 July 2023 being defined as below:

Please check out the RFU post here for more information.

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As the season draws to a close with finals left to be contested I wanted to focus on some of the changes coming across the Society over the summer and into the new season.

Society President – Ray Jones

Ray Jones has agreed to be the Society President for 2023/24. Ray’s focus areas for the coming season feature around:

• Referee Development – What do our referees need to develop within the society and the process around this.
• Grading System – Linking with the above, what is the process for referees to be graded and how is this carried out across the society to create a fair and consistent approach.
• Liasing with the Training team to ensure the needs of all groups are catered for.

Ray will be supported by Neil Reid-Warrilow and Bru Brudenell on the above but as always we welcome thoughts and suggestions from our members. It could be something you’d like to see us do more of or you may have experience from other societies / place of work that you feel will benefit the society.

YMO Lead – Trish Bartram-Clarke

Tony Jones retired from his position of YMO lead with Trish taking over this role. Firstly on behalf of the society we would like to thank Tony for his tireless work done in supporting our YMO’s, his contribution has been valuable in bringing through the raft of YMO’s currently in place across the society.

Trish will be the lead for YMO’s and is on the lookout for mentors to help with the YMO program. This could be parents of current YMO’s who would be happy to help new YMO’s and parents navigate getting set up or YMO’s who would like to volunteer with experience of what they went through – could be a perfect opportunity for anyone currently going through DofE and needs a volunteering assignment.

The key areas surround:

• Who’s the Ref management – availability, accepting games, claiming mileage
• What to expect on arrival at a club
• Pre & Post game etc etc

If you would like to learn more or just have a chat please drop an email to Webmaster@northmidsrefs.co.uk

Watcher’s (Reviewers) – Mick Fielding

Mick Fielding is taking on the role of appointments for Watchers for the adult game. As part of his remit he will also work closely with the coaches to provide a unified approach. This will involve linking in with the work being undertaken by Ray, Neil & Bru.

Communications – Neil Stone

I have taken over the role of Director of Communications for the society with my main focus being to deliver communications that members want to hear, read and see along with spreading our reach to new members. To that end if you feel we are missing something or there’s a better way I’m all ears to any suggestions you may have.

At the moment I am reviewing all of our channels and the content we post to draw up a plan of action. This will spread out to meetings, events etc to make sure we are engaging all our members with appropriate content.

If there are any budding social media champions across the society I’m happy for volunteers to manage this aspect or you’d like to produce a ‘guest’ Friday Bulletin.

Any thoughts on this area please drop me an email or leave a comment below.

Training & Development – Neil Chivers

Neil is continuing in his role of Training Director for the Society and will be supported by John Silverwood for the coming season. The plan is hold a pre-season meeting with a key feature being the introduction of the Sternum tackle height. From here the plan is to hold alternating webinar / face-to-face meetings across our region to give all referees the opportunity to attend.

We will also look to put together a framework on our website surrounding fitness, grading and progression for referees who would like to advance.

Further details to be provided once the dates are confirmed.

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The kit website is now on our website as a menu option providing a direct link to Stag Sports.

Happy reffing over the weekend, hopefully the rain holds off and the sun makes an appearance.