Browner - Sorry but you are talking out of your ar*se !
I have run a Society of 100+ referees for 7 seasons and we had to balance a budget of £45,000-£55,000 over that time, 85% of which is cost of travel claimed offset against match fees charged (at £30). We get no money from RFU and no money from CB. Any sponsorship money we have to get ourselves and we use that for special extras like Young Officials, Recruitment, Training Equipment, etc - not on Stash.
We are totally aligned with the modern world in terms of the training and development techniques we apply, the technology we use, and cost saving measures applied. We recognise the volunteer nature of our members, and our own admin time given freely.
Once you start charging clubs for referees, you change the whole dynamic, expectations, service delivery, etc - just look at what has happened at Panel and especially Elite where PRL especially with GASH's review process is a commercial relationship. In making that change you bring in more admin and management tasks and so you need at least one paid Society administrator perhaps.
We discussed this topic at the summer's Lensubury Society Leaders Conference and most were against paid referees below Level 4.
Simon, I think that was a little unfair on Browner and wasn't really necessary. He has a point this time and his perceptions aren't necessarily untrue.
It's not an easy situation to deal with because of the million factors, and everyone has has a good points regarding the pros and cons of paying referees. I would hazard a guess to suggest that a majority here are more than happy to give up their time, but would just like to be reimbursed for a proportion of their out of pockets costs, so that they can keep affording and justify continuing to give up their time to referee. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the costs without accounting for time, is significant, and just getting 50% of it reimbursed would help. I have been a team coach, team manager, a club secretary, u19 referee appointments and grading coordinator, and referee, and I can tell you that the costs out of my wallet is far more as a referee than any other involvement I've had with rugby.
So far travel is partially reimbursed, but IMO it needs to go further, is all that is being suggested. It's a user pays world now, so I think it's a reality that it needs to happen if rugby is to stay relevant and it's a little naive to think otherwise (especially on this island). So it's not such a stupid idea that those those don't want to collect can pass it on to their society, but those that want it to shouldn't really be denied.
Just as an aside, your club funding is huge (probably equivalent to about A$100k) , although travel in our association if centrally paid by the union, (about $20k i think) our association of 50 senior referees and 100 junior referees for everything else has to operate on less than $10k pa. When 50% is spent on valuable referee training alone, it doesn't leave much for anything else such as exchanges and other development!
