Referees returning thanks to love of the game
The pandemic has affected sport in a number of ways and because the 18-month layoff was impacting refereeing, England Rugby focused on working with referee societies to get their match officials back out on the pitches.
Community clubs have also been involved, with a drive to find members to officiate at home matches in some parts of the country where referee societies had limited capacity post-pandemic.
Initially after the 18-month absence, some regions had more than enough referees returning, while others were short. A survey of the 3,682 Referee Society referees on 25 September showed that although nationally there were more referees than fixtures, roughly a third of the 1,300 survey respondents hadn’t refereed for their society that month. Of those 400+ referees, 91 had, however, refereed for a local club, school, college or university.
After a social media campaign and communications with clubs, around 85% of society referees are now officiating again and some 820 have been newly trained. The early survey suggested some nervousness around Covid, fitness levels and applying the laws correctly after an 18-month break, heightened by global law trials.
The same survey conducted at the end of November suggests referees steadily returning. When asked why they were back in the middle referees main reasons included: a love of the game, missing their involvement, improved mental and physical wellbeing, as well as fitness levels, being part of the action and returning to the Saturday routine.
England Rugby has 14,000 England Rugby Referee Association members. Of these, 4,000 are referee society members – the key group covering grassroots fixtures. Another 10,000 have completed an England Rugby Refereeing Award and sometimes referee at their local club or school.
With more and more returning, referee societies are covering more than 80% of the games where referees are requested, compared to 88% of games during season 2019-20, and this is continuing to build.
"We want referees who already hold a qualification to return to the game as well as recruiting new referees," says Michael Patz, England Rugby’s Match Official Development Manager.
"In the past two months, we have trained more than 800 new referees and have sent direct invites for the local referee society to join us on day one. It appears that where the society is involved at these sessions as many as 50 – 60% of the newly-trained match officials are keen to join the society or to receive more information about joining.
"I still cover matches regularly because I love it. I’ve had some great games recently, including Old Saltleians v Camp Hill. Old Salts only had 15 players who all put in the full 80 minutes and even got a bonus point. Their players were keen to say thanks for getting the game on, that’s why I referee – to get the players wanting to come back next week."
Michael says that while a year and a half’s absence from the sport was always likely to have an effect, the signs of refs returning are encouraging and the momentum now is to get them out with their whistle on a regular basis – three times a month rather than twice.
Fiona Brunt who referees in Gloucestershire as well as in the women’s Premiership, followed in her dad Peter’s footsteps four years ago. He’s an Assistant Referee in the Championship and says Fiona: "I grew up on touchlines watching him and although I didn’t think I’d like it I eventually decided I had to have a go and I loved it.
"I’m a people person and get to meet potentially 30 new people every weekend. I love the challenge of it and love being involved in rugby. After the break though I found coming back a bit daunting. I helped at some training matches with Cheltenham Tigers women’s team and that was a great way back in.
"I think most referees are coming back now but some are still nervous having lost momentum or found something else to do. We really need them back and if they need help returning their local Society will support them. It doesn’t have to be every weekend – once or twice a month would be really helpful and just speaking to another referee gets confidence back. Once you step out on the pitch it’s a bit like riding a bike.
"I really missed it and am so pleased to be back……If I can do three or four matches a week I'm happy."
Professional referees often still cover local matches when free time permits and Christophe Ridley, Matthew Carley and Luke Pearce recently took part in filming to encourage grassroots referees to pick up the whistle again. Sara Cox has also been discussing her early grassroots refereeing.
Community Game Season restarted as below
Saturday 4 September 2021 - Full contact 15-a-side league rugby commences for Men’s Levels 3 and 4, and for 14-team men’s leagues in Levels 5 and below.
Saturday 18 September - Full contact 15-a-side league rugby commences for 12 and 10 league men’s teams in London & SE.
Saturday 25 September - Full contact 15-a-side league rugby commences for 12 and 10 league men’s teams in North, Midlands & SW.
25/26 September - Full contact 15-a-side- rugby commences for majority of women’s competitions.
