MY SPIN ON REFS,  BASICALLY,  AS A COACH OF JUNIORS,  WHAT I LIKE TO SEE.

ADDED MONDAY 09/06/2008

There has been a bit of ref bashing going on lately,  guess I sat back on the weekend just gone and reviewed my own philosophy on the subject.  Refs used to really frustrate me,  until a couple of things happened.  One of those things was that I got into coaching,  and as part of that,  I read the law book.

Now you don't have to read too much of the law book to be satisfied that you really have nothing to complain about.  Two things out of a cleverly written document stick with me, and they are:

1.  The referee is the sole judge of fact and law.  That's right,  the sole judge,  no one else,  just the ref.

2. The referee shall apply the laws of the game fairly.  It doesn't say correctly,  just fairly,  so he is allowed to be wrong,  we hope then he is consistently wrong,  and both ways,  otherwise he is a cheat,  and we always hope that we are above cheating.

So having said that,  what then is the basis of judging referees?

Personally,  in these younger age groups,  safety is my number one priority,  keep the game safe,  keep the testosterone under control.  I don't mean soft,  we can have a very physical game that is safe,  well managed and controlled.  So safe and consistent.

So then as it is a game about decisions,  and a game about perceptions,  that are in fact reality when refs,  and others make judgments based on those perceptions,  that can and do affect outcomes,  I started teaching my kids to use the referees perceptions to our advantage.  It was a simple instruction.  Don't worry about what you think you can do,  or what you think you should be able to do,  find out how the guy is reffing and play to that,  but find out early.  Teams can have great success by altering their play fractionally to suit refereeing perceptions.  It works.

I always had my captain ask about the breakdown pre game,  how it was going to be reffed/managed,  when was the ball out,  hands on by halfback etc,  made things alot easier if we knew these things.  If props and hookers were listening at their address,  some key stuff would be given out then by the ref.

It is the grey parts of the game that make it great.....or bad,  depending on whether you are a glass half full or half empty person.  Myself,  I love the grey areas of the game,  and there is plenty of advantage to be taken out of them if you just get your players to be smart on the field,  make assessments and changes quickly and on the run.

What I don't like refs doing is trying to be coaches,  before and during the game,  more often than not they are not on the money,  and we all have a different style of coaching,  especially at the tackle zone.

While I have made light of refereeing,  my two worst episodes of reffing contain complete incompetence and dangerous,  dangerous safety stuff.  One other guy in particular always seems to favour one side over the other,  I hesitate to use the word cheat,  but gee penalties and decisions always seemed to go one way.

Above all though we do need them,  no refs,  no games,  and their development and growth should be encouraged.  Coaches and officials should very strongly tell sideline idiots to shut up and pull their heads in with these developing refs.  While we all look at players and abilities and talk about the future,  there is no future or growth without refs to guide the games.  Mistakes will happen,  that is human nature,  another of those things that makes the game great,  and helps people develop,  dealing with adversity is something we all need to be able to do,  and should not be shielded from.  Losing a game of rugby due to a bad decision will not be the end of anyone's world.  Over the years,  nature or fate has an uncanny knack of evening out the rights and the wrongs.

Give them your support,  and let the correct set of review processes determine their pathway in the game,  yelling and screaming only makes less people want to be refs,  and this is not a good thing.

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