Failure to check boots

[Dixie]

a ref working alone and without technical areas.

Despite apparent requirements in RFU regulations for technical areas on all pitches, I have never yet refereed where one has been marked out - even on 1st XV pitches at RFU Seal of Approval clubs. While I believe I have the power to designate an area as a technical area, and require coaches and subs to respect it, I don't - largely because I don't want to be in the position of trying to enforce it when the coaches or subs start patrolling the touchline. I have trouble enough trying to get the pressganged TJ somewhere close to where the ball went out.

Do others share this experience? If so, do you make an issue of it?

 

[ex-lucy]

dixie. I agree with you. I have made my club aware of the RFU requirements. They refuse due to resources to make markings/ put ropes out and bring them in etc. Other clubs: I only know of 1 or 2 who are ok with these reqs, others just dont bother.
And as a referee, i dont want to appear too officious. And as you say, once you set up a technical area you then have to enforce the restrictions for coaches etc... too much hassle.
RFU: what are you going to do about it?

 

[FlipFlop]

how could I ..... ensure that the affected colt did not return to the playing enclosure and get onto the pitch as a substitute, still wearing the dodgy boots? I certainly couldn't have confirmed that the winger who appeared in the second half was not the lad trudging despondently back to the changing rooms - though I can absolutely guarantee that his No. 17 jersey did not appear on the pitch at all.

Simple. Firstly when you say the boots are unacceptable take a good long look at the player. I find that taking them to one side and explaining why you don't like his boots/studs, means you get to interact with them, and therefore recognise them more. Secondly, if in any doubt, when the sub is made, ask to check their studs again. They might find it odd, but at least you have certainty, and if they are the bad boots you can either be kind and refuse the substitution, or follow the letter of the law and show the red card.

I've had this situation in a senior game where fly half went to change boots after I said no to the ones he was wearing. I went back to check them just before KO, and he hadn't, so I made it plain that if he was on the pitch at KO with them, he was being red carded. He didn't play in the end. Funnily enough, the next week I had the same team (who were now the away team), with the same player, and the same boots, and he didn't play that week either!

 

[Rich Wartner]

USARFU
Laws Committee
Clarification on Allowable Cleat Patterns
It has recently become apparent there is some confusion in the US on the application of Law 4.4 (i):
A player must not wear a single stud at the toe of the boot.
I have heard reports of referees requiring that players cut a toe stud off molded rubber soles. This is not a requirement in Law. In fact, I have seen the results of this and they can be actually dangerous after a sloppy trim job, with sharp edges created when cutting off the stud.
The prohibition on single studs is meant for boots with replaceable studs. Soccer style cleats with molded bottoms are covered in Law 4.3 (b), as are many boots intended for other sports such as football:
Molded rubber multi-studded soles are acceptable provide they have no sharp edges or ridges.
In a similar vein, the boot style known as “blades” were accepted provisionally in 2001. That has not changed.
That said, the referee on the day always has the right and the obligation to decide that a particular shoe is unacceptable. Many shoes that are just fine when new can, after use and wear, become dangerous. That is why there is an equipment inspection before every game.
Peter Watson
Chair, USARFU Laws Committee

 

[didds]

(I suspect the iRB does not want to risk losing all those little Johnnys whose parents can only afford cheap soccer boots.)

Not necessarily a bad approach - cost should not become a barrier to play.

When I were a nipper you used to be able to buy plastic moulded soled boots from woolies and Freeman hardy Willis for thruppence happeny which "did" for a cornucopia of sport uses - football, rugby, hockey, cross country, jumping on the thick kid, swimming, throwing at your sister, whatever. You can't get them any longer!!! But these would be perfect for just about everybody except - maybe - scrummagers up to at least u12... and nothing to get "dangerous" (save bizarre plastic burs I guess...)

didds

 

[Mike Whittaker]

Not necessarily a bad approach - cost should not become a barrier to play.

When I were a nipper you used to be able to buy plastic moulded soled boots from woolies and Freeman hardy Willis for thruppence happeny which "did" for a cornucopia of sport uses - football, rugby, hockey, cross country, jumping on the thick kid, swimming, throwing at your sister, whatever. You can't get them any longer!!! But these would be perfect for just about everybody except - maybe - scrummagers up to at least u12... and nothing to get "dangerous" (save bizarre plastic burs I guess...)

didds

Woolies carried on selling them for years ... I know I used them for refereeing buying a new pair each year... must have a look and see if they still do!