Kit Clangers!

[Owen Bisto Taylor]

THIS IS JUST A BIT OF FUN GENTS, CAN'T BE DEALING WITH ANY COMMENTS (ESPECIALLY FROM YOU DAD) ABOUT BEING UNPREPARED ETC! :biggrin:

Right then, where do I begin! So i had a near 3 hour journey today from Northampton upto Birmingham (usually would take about 1hour40 but it was chaos in the city centre!). As well as this I was reffin at the place where I first did my shoulder #badmemories


I always keep my cards in my blazer pocket from the game before, for when im in the bar and doing the cards and that, but today i had a feel and I couldn't find them!!! So i panic!

Assessor walks in and asks if everything is alright, and "calm as a cucumber" (Kamara, 2010) obvoisly i tell him everything is fine... the next few minutes consisted of looking for something yellow and something red.

The following fitted the role perfectly:

-My shell points card for my yellow
-My snooker club membership card for my red

Ended up showing the shell a few times in classic Taylor family refereeing style. Wondered if anyone else has had a clanger on game day?

 

[Taff]

My AA card could double as a YC.

My Referees license could double as a RC if push came to shove - and you squinted a bit.

Come to think of it, I have 3 whistles, but just 1 set of cards.

 

[Daftmedic]

3 hour drive to south sussex. Got there. Opened the boot for my kit. Not there. I was early into crawly bought new kit. Referee'd assessor was no the wiser.

 

[winchesterref]

First exchange I turned up without a shirt and tie for after. I got dropped off early, and keen to make a good impression I ran 3 miles into town to buy shirt and tie, only I took a wrong turn after about 2 miles and had to phone a taxi as I got lost. Ended up spending over an hour on this trip and made it back 40 minutes before kick off!

 

[Accylad]

Nearly at Tewkesbury RFC a few years ago when the thought "I did pack the boots didn't i?" goes through the mind. Pulled over to find no boots.

No sports shop in Tewkesbury so a frantic phone call home had my son cycling towards me as I headed home. His effort took half an hour off my journey and I got to the ground with only about half an hour to spare. Nightmare, am sure my first 20 mins suffered through lack of normal pre match routine and prep......

 

[OB..]

Tewkesbury can cause problems when it has been raining. A while ago I checked the game was still on before leaving home, but found the main entrance was flooded when I arrived. No mobile with me, so I drove back to my club and phoned from there. The secretary confirmed the match really was on, and gave directions to the back gate via a local housing estate. Naturally I got lost in the maze and arrived just as the referee was blowing his whistle to start the game.

At least it tested the theory that you ought to be able to read a lot of the game from the referee's whistle as I trudged across to the pitch.

 

[matty1194]

Come to think of it, I have 3 whistles, but just 1 set of cards.

Fortunately not me that left there kit at home but the 2nd XV referee in the same changing room before the game getting changed, I could hear all the scrabbling around inside his bag that he was doing, the chuntering under his breath, the look of horror on his face and his stress levels rising

Me, " Whats up mate?"
Him, "Left my cards at home by the tv!"
Me, " Give me two minutes pal"

I proceed to wander off to the kitchen and find a pair of scissors. Back in the changing room out come my cards and snip snip snip I now have two sets of cards.

Me, "There you go pal"
Him, " You sure mate?"
Me, "Well I've cut them now so no going back!"

Instantly he calms down and I get a couple of beers out of him afterwards, he needn't of worried though because by all accounts he had control of his game and didn't feel the need to flash the cards.

 

[Browner]

Whilst not being referee related, this is one 'special' memory

We travelled , and during match our THP's shorts get shredded in a series of tackles such that they are in two halves!

An absence of spare kit means he's faced with playing in his budgie smugglers , he asks pleadingly to borrow the shorts of another large-arsze player , relunctantly Browner agrees to give him his shorts because he is wearing a pair of thick neoprene (midriff/tackle area! warming) undershorts , as well as having an arse like Serena Williams!

Much to the amusement of players, watchers and especially the guy who video'd and commented on the match who simply couldnt resist taking the piss from his lofty pitch view gantry. It was the first time we'd ever been given a video copy of our match ( to learn from) so my club all got to see my shrink wrapped derriere in full match action :booty:

( completelyfftopic: off topic, apologies in advance , but an opposition player who then went on to be England 7s capt scored x4 tries against us in that match, as remarked at the time - he simply had too much gas for us ....yeah right, just a bit too much !!)

 

[Adam]

Yes. On my first ever L7 match on an exchange in London. I come to yellow card a player and the card isn't in my pocket. Ended up having to do an NRL style 10-finger action.

This was also the match where I turned up and there were no pitch markings.

Weirdly, by a weird twist of fate I also did my first L6 down in London. The benefits of people knowing you don't mind the travel!

 

[Ciaran Trainor]

Freezing cold yesterday at Windermere so did My warm up with plenty of layers on. All players ready early so decide with the skippers to get going 5 minutes early. About 50 metre jog to the pitch. They begin to line up I throw the match ball to the 10, then "shit, sorry lads, forgot my whistle" cue jog of shame back to the dressing rooms!

 

[Dixie]

I arrived to referee a L.8 1st XV game in the far west of the county, perhaps 45 minutes from home. No shorts! :wow: Fortunately, this was on international day, and the 3rd XV had elected to play early. 10 minutes to kick-off and my colleague finished his game - duly (and very generously) lending me his shorts. Now, I was either #13 or #14 in my playing days, and have a 34" waist. My colleague was a prop, and has since bulked up to a 40" waist. I was very grateful for those shorts, but they acted like a parachute - the wind resistance! That at least was my excuse for failing to keep up with the home team's very nippy young winger.

 

[crossref]

On a very cold day last season I wore my LSRFUR hoody until literally very last moment - only taking it off as the teams came out of their huddles, lining up to start, I stuffed it into my bag on side of the pitch, and ran quickly to the centre to start the game.

I rasied my arm and ..... no whistle! I realised that in taking my hoody off I must pulled the lanyard off my wrist

"hang on everyone, sorry about this" - and I sprinted back to the touchline, thirty players all looking at me bemused, foraged around in my bag for what seemed like about 5 mins to extract the whistle from - sure enough - the sleeve of the hoody, and back on to the pitch.

Yes, yes, I should have had a spare whistle in my pocket. Always do now!

 

[SimonSmith]

I was running touch for a NP referee over here in the National 1/4s. There were radio glitches.

Black 13 had already been binned once, and the team had received the "next one...." warning. I spotted the fact that he had dropped his wallet and cards so picked them up, ready to give them to him at the next stoppage.

Which, unfortunately, was far side from me. And involved Black 13 doing exactly what the team had been warned about (hands in ruck). He calls 13 over, and starts delivering the speech, all the time patting his pockets to find his not-there-at-all cards.

Eventually play comes over my side, and I give him the cards with a cheery "I'd hate to think that someone's still on the field that shouldn't be because you couldn't find your cards..."

Then there was the time I turned up to do Winchester Seconds (I think). No boots. Must be in the car. Nope. Must be in the bag then. Nope. Shit, no boots.
And this, kids, is why you do your best to not piss people off. Johnny, the 3rds captain was injured and running the bar. At this early stage in my career I'd done the 3rds a fair bit, as well as wearing a Peacekeepers hat when Winchester hosted Laon from France. So Johnny smiled me and produced his from his car. Lifesaver.