Society Bulletin

Hope you’re all looking forward to a weekend of refereeing along with the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup…unfortunately it looks like the good weather is firmly behind us and normal service is resumed with a wet weekend.

Society Treasurers Report

At the last Society Board Meeting held in October the accounts up to 31 March 2023 were finalised and approved. If you would like to read the treasurers report, this can be accessed on our website by clicking this link.

As a Society we are in a stable position as can be seen in the report, a copy of the accounts are available on request should you wish to see this information.

Referee Subs

Within the treasurers report we have noticed that membership subs are down from previous years. The cost of annual subs is £25 providing benefits such as:

• RFU Insurance
• Access to RFU International tickets
• Training & Development
• Referee Kit
• +much more

If you require information on how to pay please drop an email to finance@northmidsrefs.co.uk.

We offer concessions on membership subs as follows:

New Members – If you completed the first or second day of the Referee course during the season you will get free membership with the society for the remainder of the current season and the following season.

YMO / Full-time education – If you are a YMO or in full time education membership is free during this period.

Additional Circumstances – We also offer free membership on a case-by-case basis for example unemployed or other situations. If you would like to find out more please contact us.

Free Kit Offer

As we have communicated previously we are offering all referees who have completed 8 games last season and are paid up member for this season, with at least one game under the belt the offer of a free match shirt or watcher coat. The process for this is to choose and pay for the product through our preferred kit supplier – Stag Sports. On completion if you email the invoice to finance@northmidsrefs.co.uk and you will be reimbursed the amount.

Hot Topics

Over the next few bulletins I’d like to focus on Hot Topics as found by our referees; if there is anything you would like us to focus on please let me know by dropping an email – webmaster@northmidsrefs.co.uk

Celebrating one of our ex-referees

Many will remember Andy Wigley as a member with us until university and then work took him to live in Gloucestershire. Nevertheless he has maintained contact with some of his former colleagues and the Society.

Andy has just been promoted to the P.G.M.O.T. (Professional Game Match Official Team) following a successful trial period in the Premiership Cup.

Drive for New Referees

As you will have all seen the number of available referees this season as been at an all time low. As a Society we have been looking at ways to improve this reaching out to the North Mids RFU, Clubs, England RFU along with work within the Society. As a result we will be looking to run ‘Introduction to Refereeing’ courses over the coming months. These are likely to commence from December with potential clubs to help with the management and ownership of the courses.

Have a great weekend all and enjoy the games.