It’s easy to become a referee and start refereeing……….

It’s easy to become a referee and start refereeing! There are a whole heap of reasons why one might take up the whistle.To remain active in the sport, after a injury or after hanging up the boots. To make new and lasting friendship within the game and with those involved in rugby, or gain a sense of achievement by providing an invaluable service to players, coaches and spectators alike.

The Referees Association or Society of a Union, should provide referees with all the necessary information on refereeing. Whether you are an active match official, a volunteer administrator or considering taking up the whistle for the first time. You have a pivotal role to play in the development of officiating.

For the current and potential officials, refereeing is a great way to give something back to the game they have played, loved and made a name, while also helping to widen participation in the sport. The referees controlling body should support in every step on the way. Every game of rugby is under the control of match officials who consist of the referee and two touch judges. Today there are assistant referees and match commissioners.

When the game of rugby was developed, there were no official referees. It was not until many years later when the game began to spread that a referee was included. Before the creation of referees, the two captains set the rules down before the game. The two captains would arbitrate the game together as it went on. Interestingly, this is where the ‘advantage’ law comes from in the rugby union. This was because a team’s captain was not likely to complain or stop play if his side actually benefited from the other team’s infringement. It was in 1892, that the IRB was created as a result of a disputed try that the captains could not agree on whether it had been scored. The rugby laws were changed to require one referee and two touch judges at each game to make the arbitration easier and more consistent. Since then the match official’s job has remained constant. The main change has been in the uniform and since 2000 the use of communication equipment and the television match official has greatly increased

Referees use equipment, toss a Coin. The referee tosses with the team captains to decide who kicks off first. Referees carry a whistle to indicate occurrences in the game. He uses a red card to signal that a player is being sent off for the rest of a game.

The referee signals this by holding the red card aloft in the direction of the player. A yellow card is to signal that a player is being temporarily suspended from the game. He is sent to the “sin bin” for 10 minutes, after which time he is allowed to return to the game.

The touch judges each carry a flag, which is used to signal certain things to the referee. The things that a touch judge can indicate with the flag are slightly different from that of an assistant referee. A touch judge must indicate a successful kick at goal The referee is required to have a watch or timekeeping device as the referee is solely responsible for keeping the time. Referees are required to carry a scorecard as they are solely responsible for keeping the score. Often this job is given to others but the referee is responsible for the score and must keep it in case there is a complaint about the correctness of the score. Referees should wear a specific uniform to make them easily identifiable. These uniforms are usually picked so that they stand out from the teams playing so that the ball is not passed to a referee. Uniforms usually consist of a jersey, shorts and stockings. many of them wear rugby boots so they can move quickly and easily around the field. Communication equipment can be used to communicate between officials. This is also often used in televised games to allow viewers to hear what is happening.

Before the game, referee must check the field to ensure it is safe to play on and meets all regulations. This includes checking the flags, posts, lines and pads. And also should check the player’s clothing and studs on their boots to ensure they comply with the regulations. A referee may delegate this responsibility to an assistant referee. Some even check the mouth guards.

Appointments of referees to games are usually done by the Referees controlling body. Assaults on rugby referees are being reported, some are physically assaulted by a spectator or coach.

Every game, verbal assault on the referees are there. All this is because of poor refereeing and also some of the supporters want their club to do well. Today officials get a good packet for their job, and the people who create problems also pay well to witness match.

Let it be school or club game the price of tickets a sky high, there are matches where a ticket is priced at Rs. 3000.00. Today most of the good players don’t take up refereeing, due to poor and violent treatment, by the spectators, on the other side some referees today are very poor in their job and this creates more problems at matches.

A touch judge has no responsibilities after a match. The only responsibility an assistant referee has is to complete a written report to send to the referee that is then sent to the union in charge of the game. The report is only required if a player has been sent off or temporarily suspended because of their report on foul play. In the good old days, touch judge with the flag, was a reserve of one of the teams, today the referees controlling body introduces the touch judge. The touch judges and assistant referees cannot stop play, but can signal the referee to enable them to assist him. Today some touch judges try to be referees teachers.

A referee is the person of authority in a game, who is responsible for presiding over the game from a neutral point of view and making on-the-fly decisions that enforce the rules of the sport.

Today, most of the referees are not in a happy mood, chough they are promised a good payment, they are not paid in time for the job they do. When they come out of Colombo, they pay a big packet for their transport, food and lodging.

Now see what happened at a school match recently, a coach could not take up the defeat and he had been banned for one month, for the comments he had made on the referee, both are form Kandy and one time involved in coaching of a school in Kandy.

For rugby to develop as one of the best and well attended sport in Sri Lanka the Parent Body should lay proper emphasis on how to organize the game of rugby with adequate rules and regulations to be followed by all involved with the sport with no favoritism, and also a referee should not coach and a coach should not referee at school level.