Brendan Gallagher's 3 tips to improve refereeing.

[Bury_Dave]

I have to say I quite agree

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ru...apping-learn-the-lingo-talk-to-the-press.html

Do you agree too ?

What would you add to or remove from the list ?

I should state that I'm in agreement for the higher levels of the game but game management is something I think players appreciate at the usual levels of the game.

Dave

 

[Simon Thomas]

as usual pretty sensible ideas from Brendan.

One fact incorrect is that not all referees are professional - Allain Rolland is not, he is a financial broker.

Quite agree re shutting up - and that is RFU referee development policy (minimal verbals, short / sharp / effective).

The use of language is a big debate and although a nice to have, I cannot see it working in practice and certainly not the cost of a week long workshop plus month's secondment to France, Italy etc - unsustainable and unaffordable, especially after a loss making RWC in NZ and England's minimum of £80m ticket sales contribution in 2015.

IRB and RFU PR is awful and I se no reason for referees not to be asked to comment post match.

 

[OB..]

Stop yapping unnecessarily
Yes if it becomes white noise. However it is largely a matter of style in many cases. Tony Spreadbury and Chris White were quite different in this respect, but both were top class referees and would surely have been worse if each had adopted the other one's style.

Talk to the press
This was tried in South Africa, when the referee was required to be at post match press conferences. After the novelty wore off, and journalists found that referees could explain the reasons for their decisions, the press apparently lost interest.
I have no fundamental problem with the idea, but there is a danger of it being used solely to attack the referees.

Learn the lingo
I think this is a really bad idea.

I always had a high regard for Chris White as a referee, and he used to referee using some French phrases – and made mistakes. A crucial one was shouting "Lâchez, rouge" when refereeing Munster against a French team. How many Munster players realized he was talking to them? It is typical of what happens when you know some phrases but do not speak the language. It is also only too easy to pick the wrong phrase on the spur on the moment. As an experienced linguist, I have been there and done that.

Trying to put the language burden on the referee is a non-starter once you stop to consider the problem. At this RWC we have had the following languages to deal with: French, Japanese, Spanish, Georgian/Russian. Romanian, Italian. 13 of the countries could be regarded as English speaking. French and Italian may seem to make sense for the 6N, but why single them out for a World Cup? 3 matches (Group B) involved teams speaking none of those languages:

The only practical solution is to say that in internationals, unless the referee and both teams have a common language, play in the game shall be refereed using a subset of English phrases as published by the IRB. At a stoppage other possibilities arise, but there is no time pressure then.

The result of that would be that all countries would expect to be refereed in that way at some stage, so they would put in the effort to ensure their players would recognize the phrases eg by refereeing like that just below international level. Passive understanding is much easier than active use.

It would put a small burden on non-English speaking referees, but at least it would only relate to learning one language – and it is pretty well what they have to do already. Some are not very good at it (Berdos) which just shows you cannot expect a top class referee also to be a good linguist.

 

[crossref]

Talking: at pro level I think I agree with BG, although to be honest I'd like to hear the players view - what do they think ?

at grass roots level, ie watching and TJing age-group and adult games at my club, I think that for every one complaint about a ref being too verbiose, I'd say i hear about 15 complaints that he hasn't communicated properly and no one knows what the decision was for.

 

[Bury_Dave]

At youth and senior games I've ref'fed at, I do talk because there are many players who don't understand the Laws and we all want a game to flow if possible. for the players rather than those watching.

At International level, they should know the laws as these guys are coached to death on them and how to push them to the limits. Players are not necessarily worried about the flow of the game (in fact one side or the other is often trying to kill the game to get re-organised etc) and so the flow is really about crowd entertainment.

That's why I differentiated.

I do agree though that what the players think would be the key as the game is, in theory, played for them and not for the benefit of the crowd.

The ref' mic' can be very informative or annoyingly distracting to listeners depending on your perspective and the ref' involved. Several ref's I wonder if they've turned off the ref' link on purpose !

It would also be difficult to warn players on both sides equally if they were infringing and so bias claims could be made. You know, " the ref' only warned us to roll away three times but the other side got 7 ...." etc.

Dave

 

[Simon Thomas]

Talking: at pro level I think I agree with BG, although to be honest I'd like to hear the players view - what do they think ?

at grass roots level, ie watching and TJing age-group and adult games at my club, I think that for every one complaint about a ref being too verbiose, I'd say i hear about 15 complaints that he hasn't communicated properly and no one knows what the decision was for.

effective communication can be achieved mostly without saying a word - whistle tone, body language and correct primary & secondary signals should do 90% of what is required, leaving minimal verbals to clarify anything extra.

I see far too many referees who are commentating & coaching the players, as well as refereeing the match.

 

[Simon Thomas]

It would also be difficult to warn players on both sides equally if they were infringing and so bias claims could be made. You know, " the ref' only warned us to roll away three times but the other side got 7 ...." etc.

Dave

Consistency is vital and a key measurement I use when assessing - has the referee used equal preventatives, warnings, PKs, skipper warnings and YC in his sanctions escalation process with both teams ? With of course allowance for different contexts such as stage of match, score at time, position on pitch, etc.

If any side got to 7 warnings to roll away, where thee was a material outcome, rI would be asking why they hadn't been PK'd and warned at least, and by them a YC should have been used.

 

[Bury_Dave]

If any side got to 7 warnings to roll away, where thee was a material outcome, rI would be asking why they hadn't been PK'd and warned at least, and by them a YC should have been used.

Sorry, I was just using numbers with no regard to a realistic situation. You are right in terms of absolute numbers Simon. Not that you need a lowly person like to me confirm that !

 

[Simon Thomas]

Sorry, I was just using numbers with no regard to a realistic situation. You are right in terms of absolute numbers Simon. Not that you need a lowly person like to me confirm that !

Sorry as an assessor I tend to be anally retentive regarding stats and evidence !

Everyone's input is important, and often it is important to have fresh views not tainted by years of conditioning.

 

[andyscott]

Sorry as an assessor I tend to be anally retentive regarding stats and evidence !

Everyone's input is important, apart from the referee, who I will listen to, pretend I understand and still put my unchanged opinion in the report. Often it is important to have fresh sandwiches to soak up the pre game Claret, which is very important to the game.

:holysheep: