Seasons Greeting from the Society

Hope you’ve all had a great Christmas and looking forward to bringing in the New year!

As we wrap up 2023 I thought I’d share some highlights of the year surrounding what we have achieved:

In 2023, using WTR we have allocated referees to 1,591 matches broken down as follows :

Day	Matches
Saturday	730
Sunday	525
Midweek	336

Our Match Official Development team have been out to watch, assess and mentor 221 games; helping us develop our officiating skills.

We also saw a major change with the introduction of the Tackle Height Domestic Law variation; thanks to the tireless work in the back ground by our team of MO tackle champions, Training team and you, as the referees on the pitch, I think it has been a relatively smooth transition. The RFU will continue to evaluate the impact of the law variation as we head into 2024 with further resources being made available if needed.

I’d also like to thank our team of volunteers who tirelessly ensure the Society keeps functioning, fixtures are appointed and we can all carry on doing the things we love for the game of Rugby:

• Appointments team
• Finance
• YMO team
• Membership team
• Match Official Development team
• Training team
• Our Chair and President
• Support team
• Our referees

Bring on 2024!

In other news…

Training 2024

Our next training date is scheduled for the 9 January 2024 to be held at Old Hales RFC, start time is planned for 7pm.

The topic for discussion is a Midseason Review covering the key elements of the first half of the season along with an open floor for questions, discussions points and a chance to mingle with fellow referees, watchers, YMOs are everyone else associated with the Society. We will do the usual of posting on Facebook in the New year to gauge numbers.

We are also in the process of securing a special guest to come along for a future training event, more details to follow when we have firmer details but this will be one not to miss!

Assistant Referees / Touch Judges

Oh the luxury of having a recognised AR…right back to reality ;-). If you are at a game and someone offers to be an AR for you please note we have a World Rugby Directive that we need adhere to, as follows:

Assistant Referees must be officially appointed by the match organiser. If they have not been appointed by the match organiser then they perform the role of Touch Judge. Match organiser is the appointments team.

RFU Match Official Update

Please check out this link to read the December release of the RFU Match Official Update.

Hope you find the above the useful and wishing you all a happy & prosperous New Year.