YORKSHIRE FEDERATION of REFEREES’ SOCIETIES
http://www.yorkshirereferees.org
/2015/16 has once again been a success for federation and its societies.
During the year Rob Staines, Jim Turner and Stuart Grey- Cowan have stood down from their roles and I would like to express of thanks for the service to Yorkshire rugby, in particular Jim, who has Federation appointments officer for over 20 years and special mention and recognition is required.
Andy Baker is also standing down at the AGM as secretary, he has put in a lot of hard work during his period in this role, most of it not visible and we need to recognise and thank him for his work.
Our development squad led by Peter Scott has had successful season and we have three referees Daniel Woods, Jordan Wagner and Harry Walbaulm have been invited to attend the level selection day on the 8th May. Simon Park and Jason Garrick have also been nominated to the panel as AR’s.
Peter Scott has decided to stand down from the Training officer part of his role due to business reasons and Carl Walsh has agreed to take on that role going forward and is already planning the training day which is been held on the Sunday 14th August 2016.
We currently have 67 referees at federation level which given there are only a maximum of 21 league games available on league weeks is of major concern, finding a balance of developing referees who have potential to progress giving all referees sufficient game time to maintain their readiness to referee at the required level is challenge that continues to need review if we are to find a better solution to this issue going forward. At the recent Mops meeting although we identified some new members from societies with potential they are few in number at this point in time.
The introduction of the finance package of WTR for paying expenses and invoicing in clubs has proved successful and significantly reduced the work load involved and made it more effective and up to date.
A review meeting took place with WTR on 25th April with Mark Brown, Carl and myself and the following outcomes were agreed to improve the system going forward:-
· 3rd party persons will be able to upload hand written PDF report and exchange reports next season
· Spell check facility and Auto save facility will be introduced to the report system next season, this will make the system far more user friendly for those compiling reports on WTR.
· We also discussed web sites and Carl and I both impressed with the WTR web site offer ( look at Kent or Dorset & Wilts societies websites ) they use the WTR platform and we felt it is an option we should seriously consider, all information and appointments etc. is automatically updated from WTR so provided that is kept up date by societies and the federation it would be a far better option and less work for the web site manager. There would be cost implication of an annual “host fee” of £180 plus a change over one off set up cost of £500 to £1000 to be confirmed, I suggest Fran evaluates this and we can perhaps discuss it at AGM.
· We have also agreed to put the Disciplinary forms on WTR and this will be set up for next season and Carl will be in contact in due course with user instructions
· At the same meeting we invited Yorkshire RUFU leagues representatives to meet us as a follow up to the meeting in November to discuss the data input of all Saturday fixtures for next season and going forward. Agreement was reached with them and WTR for all fixtures to be input by the clubs direct onto this system with a link to an output form which clubs and YRFU can use as there electronic handbook YRFU have agreed to pay for this service direct to WTR. This was a real positive outcome for use as they will doing all the work saving our appointment officers time and they will also be paying WTR a fee for it. It was agreed the deadline of 3rd week in July for all fixtures to be inputted by clubs. Bucs fixtures and the new Sunday colts league games will still need to be obtained and put into the system by transferring them onto the data input sheet and Carl will need to organise who will be responsible for that.
Over the past three years Andy and myself have worked hard in re- establishing good working mutual relationships with the county and these are firmly in place and need to be continued and developed in the future.
I intend to stand down from this role at the AGM and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those for their support who have worked with me over the past three years.
Neil Copsey
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MATCH OFFICIALS PERFORMANCE SUB COMMITTEE
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
This was my first season as Chairman of MOP’s and took over the role not really knowing what to expect, I had been involved with the Development Squad as a coach but did not fully understand what was required.
It became apparent from the start that the other members of the committee were very knowledgeable in the art of rugby and did not require anyone telling them what was required however, what was required was a person who was going to bring a structure to the meetings and guide them along without being to autocratic.
I now believe that this has been achieved and It was agreed by all that we would adopt a voting system where by each member has a vote on matters which concern all 5 constituent societies.
We have discussed and deliberated over many topics the main ones being appointments, grading of Match Officials and the Development Squad.
Appointments
It is not possible to give every referee a game every week at their current grade and I fully understand referees getting frustrated when they do not get the appointment they think they should get. Believe me this is not through trying however, as a committee we have tried to give referees who we believe have the potential and ability to develop their level of refereeing the best game available that week. We have a number of referees at all levels who on their own admittance would say that they have reached their potential. Going forward I would like to keep those referees at that level however, they would be put on an “affiliate list” with the referees who we believe have potential at that level getting first choice of games. It is very important that all referees complete Who’s the Ref with their availability on a monthly basis, this then allows us to allocate games without then having to do a large amount of changes.
It would be wrong of me not to thank Jim Turner for his sterling efforts, he was magnificent in his role as appointments officer and I know spent many hours chasing referees to see if they were available.
Grading of Match Officials
When I took over the role of Chairman I was adamant that we as a committee would start to move referees who had the potential to progress quickly up the grades, this was not always well received. How-ever I think you would agree that this season has been very productive in progressing referees.
Society representatives and the Development Squad manager have on a monthly basis brought to the table recommendations on who they believe have the potential to move up a grade. These have been discussed and I am happy to say in the majority of cases have been positive recommendations, yes we have given referees trial games at the level above but again in most cases the referee has performed very well and has then been moved up a grade. I would like to thank all the Society Reps and the Development Squad Manager for their help in this process. I would also like to thank the Advisors and Assessors who have spent many an hour writing the reports to allow those referees to progress.
Development Squad
I do not want to steal Peter Scott’s thunder as I know he will be writing a report. What a season it has been for the referees on the squad. As it stands at the moment there is a great possibility that we as a Federation will have 3 referees advancing on to the North Group and 2 referees being accepted on to the National Panel of Assistant Referees. Out of the 12 referees we currently have on the squad half could be progressing to higher levels of rugby, now if that is not developing and assessing the performance of our referees then I do not know what is!!
Conclusion
Ladies and gentlemen I believe this has been a very good season for Yorkshire Referees and one which I now want to build on. You will all have seen the new fitness levels which was agreed at the April meeting and I make no apologies for increasing these, if we want to progress then we have to raise the bar and I hope that if you want to progress and improve then you will be setting your own bar even higher for the coming season.
I leave you with this thought
"The shortest word for me is I, the sweetest word for me is LOVE, but the only word for me is Rugby"
Barry Dalby
Chairman Match Officials Performance
YRS Secretary’s report 2015/16
This is my last report at YRS Secretary and I am pleased that we have somebody as able and keen as Dave Downham to take over the role, I wish him well.
Nobody who volunteers as an administrator, in whatever sport or organisation, does it for personal gratification or personal gain. They do it because they want to make a positive difference and enable the greatest number the opportunity to enjoy what they do and have access to as much help and guidance as possible. This, for us, is done under the “umbrella” of the Federation and I am happy that with the help of others, notably the outgoing Chair and his predecessor, and other like-minded people, I/we have made a positive difference.
There have been no hidden agendas, only volunteers attempting their best to provide structure and standards as, ultimately, Yorkshire Referees Society encompassing the 5 Societies.
Andy Baker – YRS Secretary
RFRU and MODCONE report to the Annual General Meeting 3rd May 2016
RFRU (Referees’ Union)
2015/16 has been a very significant year for refereeing in England as the RFRU has worked closely with various RFU bodies to move towards becoming a National Constituent Body, one of the recommendations within the wide ranging “Refereeing Blueprint” published last summer and more than two years in the making.
CB status is now expected to be conferred at the RFU AGM on 3rd June, and effective 1st August, having cleared all the hurdles to the timeline we originally set – quite an achievement in itself. All Societies and Federations will become members of the RFRU on 1st August, and then become eligible to apply to become full voting members of the RFU itself (as Clubs are).
The principal recommendations of the Blueprint have been allocated to three RFRU sub-committees for implementation alongside the RFU professional staff under John Lawn and his Game Development team; and Societies will shortly be contacted by them to discuss how local pilot activities can be introduced short term. Big picture recommendations like direct RFRU PFR funding have already been set in motion with ten Societies involved in the Year One pilot with a £120k budget. Very exciting times ahead!
We await with interest to see who each Society elects as its RFRU Council Representative, with the initial Council meeting (and weekend Conference) provisionally scheduled for 5/6 November in the Midlands.
MODCONE
The North Group Level 5 Scheme under Sid Goodall’s leadership has had another successful season, with three of its referees nominated for National Panel Selection on 24 April (Jonathan Cook & Hamish Smales [N], Calum Sharp {NW]). Sadly there is no YRS candidate this time around, but good potential evident for next season. In particular, Ben Rayner has progressed significantly and been rewarded with an appointment to Wales 16 v Italy 16 recently, having shone at the Sedburgh 10s.
Three YRS referees have been invited to the NG L5 Selection Day on 8th May – Harry Walbaum, Jason Wagner & Daniel Woods. We wish them well.
Allan MacGregor
15th April 2016
South Yorkshire Referees Society Secretaries Report 2015/16
Training
Our monthly meetings this season were once again held at Rugby clubs across South Yorkshire returning to our traditional 3rd Thursday of the month after last seasons experiment of a move to Wednesday evenings.
A series of training presentations took place, given by a variety of speakers including Society referees and guest speakers from the RFU panel of referees, club coaches.
Wide ranging topics from game management to re-structuring encouraged the participants to ask searching questions of the content matter and I believe helped all our referees further develop their own personal refereeing skills. Hopefully the RFU will have new training materials available for next season.
Attendances have been good with an average of thirty. This would have been mid-thirties but a number of meetings clashed with development squad meetings. The meeting for Craig Maxwell keys had a turn-out of 37.
Fitness testing was arranged for refs at level nine & above, with all our referees successfully achieving the required levels.
All of our referees continue to make progress and a special mention to Jack Makepeace on his first Championship appointment.
Recruitment & Retention
A really successful season on the recruitment front, with 22 new referees joining. Discussions took place at committee meetings to enhance the development of South Yorkshire referees and to also determine the best way forward for the development of our referees within the federation structure and allow all the potential to develop and achieve the highest level for skills and ability resulting in