Furthest you've ever gone for a regular match?

[4eyesbetter]

Today I got a confirmation call for a student game I'm travelling to Bath for. I live in North London, about 125 miles and two and a half hours away. What's the furthest you've ever gone for a nothing-special bog-standard played-on-an-open-field (not including exchanges, double/triple/quadruple-headers, finals, etc) appointment?

 

[stuart3826]

About 75 miles each way. Big society, North Mids

 

[Simon Thomas]

Today I got a confirmation call for a student game I'm travelling to Bath for. I live in North London, about 125 miles and two and a half hours away. What's the furthest you've ever gone for a nothing-special bog-standard played-on-an-open-field (not including exchanges, double/triple/quadruple-headers, finals, etc) appointment?

Is this for a RL or RU uni match ?

In RU the uni matches will be ranked / graded by which BUCS League the unis are in. The top few Leagues will get Panel or Group Refs, but most will have local County Society L6 and down refs appointed with say a max 50 miles or so trip. Even with Panel / Group Refs, RFU budget controls are tending to limit travel to 100 miles or so max (each way) if possible.

 

[Bryan]

Two trips to Orkney from Aberdeen (1st by car/ferry, 2nd by plane) and that's about 270 miles each way on land (not sure about flight times, but I remember it being less than an hour).

Using North America isnt fair; some refs over here cover areas of land a few times the size of the UK, so a 4 hour each-way car journey has been done by a few folks several times a year.

I've flown on several occassions for "run-of-the-mill" society appointments.

 

[FlipFlop]

About 450km (280 miles) - Travelled from Geneva to Lugano.

Regularly go to Zurich from Geneva (about 190miles)

And going to Luxembourg in April (normal FIRA appointment)

But I'm going to guess that the Yanks will beat those distances.

 

[ExHookah]

Two trips to Orkney from Aberdeen (1st by car/ferry, 2nd by plane) and that's about 270 miles each way on land (not sure about flight times, but I remember it being less than an hour).

Using North America isnt fair; some refs over here cover areas of land a few times the size of the UK, so a 4 hour each-way car journey has been done by a few folks several times a year.

I've flown on several occassions for "run-of-the-mill" society appointments.

I agree with Bryan, over here long trips are typical, especially at certain levels. There are a number of matches closer to me each week than the ones I typically end up traveling to referee.

 

[Phil E]

I can get to every single club in Warwickshire within about half an hours drive :biggrin:

 

[Ciaran Trainor]

My Nearest Game with the exception of the 2 clubs in Barrow which I occasionally get is 25 miles away.
Furthest in the county Carlisle/Silloth almost 90 miles
Generally it is an 80 mile round trip every Saturday for me though some I can do on the train downside longer day plus side a few beers.

 

[Stoo48]

5 1/2 Hours two weeks ago, had a local game this weekend, only 2 hours drive....... Hoping I'm not called to go upto Madison Wisconsin next weekend......

Bit different to tramping around Warwickshire

 

[dave_clark]

i went to billericay once, about 5 miles away

 

[4eyesbetter]

In RU the uni matches will be ranked / graded by which BUCS League the unis are in. The top few Leagues will get Panel or Group Refs, but most will have local County Society L6 and down refs appointed with say a max 50 miles or so trip. Even with Panel / Group Refs, RFU budget controls are tending to limit travel to 100 miles or so max (each way) if possible.

The SRL works sort of the same way (there's a Super 8 elite competition that gets good quality referees and touch judges if possible, and then everyone else gets the closest qualified ref who's available), but because we're really tight outside the heartland on the number of warm bodies available, when one ref in (say) Bristol isn't available, everyone else across the whole south of England and Wales ends up having to travel west to cover for them (and vice versa when there's a shortage in London). They do try to control expenses as far as possible, but as our American friends know, sometimes there's just no avoiding long journeys when you're a minority sport.

 

[SimonSmith]

My closest game is one hour and 50 miles (one way).
After that:
105 minutes and 115 miles to Harrisonburg and JMU
2 hours and 100 miles to UVa in Charlottesville
Richmond is 2 hours and 110 miles
Blacksburg, for Virginia Tech (that was this Saturday) is 4 hours; roughly 520 miles round trip
Norfolk would be similar
Radford (D2 champs a couple of years ago) 4.5 hours and God knows how many miles.

Those are my 'standard' games. I actually end up with less travel when I go on exchange!

 

[FlipFlop]

Closest game? Used to live in Richmond, so could walk the 100 odd metres to either Richmond, Scottish, or Welsh. Beers aplenty afterwards and a stumble home....

 

[ckuxmann]

My closest match was just across the street when I lived on campus in Minnesota my furthest would be 315 miles one way.

 

[taff426]

239 mile ONE WAY to be AR2!!!!!!!

 

[DrSTU]

Furthest:

29390 miles. San Diego to Houston, TX. Needless to say I flew!

 

[ckuxmann]

Furthest:

29390 miles. San Diego to Houston, TX. Needless to say I flew!

That's not 29000 miles I hate to tell you.

 

[DrSTU]

It is when you go via Hong Kongepper:

That's not 29000 miles I hate to tell you.

 

[Drift]

I've headed to Albury for a game before, 341km each way. Took us 4 hours to get there, was worth it as it was an enjoyable game.

 

[Lee Lifeson-Peart]

About 75 miles each way. Big society, North Mids

Imagine how big it would be be if it extended into the North Midlands.