Rant

Stormkahn

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Feel free to ignore this, it's more here for me to get off my chest!! :deadhorse::wtf:


We played away yesterday and had a F*&&*&* awful experience with the ref.

He was bad, wrong and dangerous is some many ways we can't even begin to count;

wrong.
  • KO went over the try line + dotted down, 5m scrum given to receiving team. (WRONG receiving team has an option of retake or scrum at half way).
  • Said scrum was ~2m!
  • Penalty given against us for not releasing; the BC had the ball in his grasp on the ground but no other opposition player on their feet was even close enough to touch the ball!
  • Penalty given, we FK to gain ground, he restarted with a scum! This was also so close to the touch line that I could reach out and touch it! Wrong on 2 counts.
  • Ball cleared straight into touch, again a scrum restart. In fact I don't think he used a FP for the who game and when required they were never 5m from touch or try lines.
  • Squeezeball; a coach and I stepped onto the field when we saw this, fortunately there were no other players around or trying to ruck over so a broken neck was avoided. He didn't seem to know it was an offense....
  • Great tackle from one of our guys floored the BC and who ended up on his knees, he blow for a high tackle or dangerous tackle or perhaps an injury, he was vague but they ended up with a penalty.
  • Bias bias bias, we got called for plenty of offside penalties which is fine because most of them were. did they, did they F*** as like. Handling on the ground, help yourself. High tackle/scrag tackle, not a problem. Don't get me wrong, being neutral can be tough but he wasn't even in the same country.
  • I've only just gotten started....
  • At all points in the game we had confused/crying/angry kids to contend with, there was no point is telling them you have to respect the refs ETC because you'd look like a complete muppet.
  • Words were had but with there so many issues it was a million miles away from a quick chat to clarify a few details.
  • Afterwards we just walked away, words would have been too heated to generate any light.
  • As of this week I travel with kit in the car just in case. We're also wondering about protocol surrounding replacing the ref but that's for the HC to sort out with the opposition.
  • I need to back myself more and step in, this is just a confidence thing from somebody who's only 3 months in.
  • They were clever and set up a shortish but narrow pitch which was great for them, lots of big slow country lads.
  • There's a return fixture later in the year, we're so looking forward to playing them again with the real laws and on a full sized pitch. The lads will be well up for it, they still remember games or particular players from several years back so these guys don't stand a chance.
  • We still won :biggrin:
  • I now have a great base line of what not to do. He didn't know the laws, was biased and dangerous.


there, I feel better now :biggrin:

starting to chill,

Dave.
 

crossref


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if it's dangerous you have to deal with it - either a calm word with the ref to explain and solve the problem, or take your players off the pitch.

otherwise: grin and bear it !


The one trick I developed in the days of mini rugby: when you arrive at the ground and are meeting the coaches the head coach should say something like -- 'Oh, if you've had any trouble at all getting hold of a ref today, we do have one of our dads who is a regular, keen and excellent ref and he's always looking for a game, I know he's brought his boots, and he'd be happy to help out, just let me know if he'd be useful'

Usually they say no thanks - but I have known that offer be seized upon with enthusiasm.

the only downside is : said Dad can end up reffing on the pitch next door, and missing his son play completely
 
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TheBFG


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I feel your pain.

My 16's had a semi final match yesterday where the ref was about 5 years out on his law knowledge. What is really annoying is that he was from the home club and is one of the first team coaches (L5), his lack of the tackle and maul laws was shocking and when asked by the captain to stop their players bridging (with their head on the floor) the response was "deal with it!"

Oh and another for the urban myth thread, if the ball falls off the kicking tea twice, you HAVE to take a drop kick :shrug:
 

didds

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They were clever and set up a shortish but narrow pitch which was great for them, lots of big slow country lads.

Them's the rubs. Nothing against this - unless it fails to confirm with minimum width of course.

didds

didds
 

Stuartg


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I feel your pain.

My 16's had a semi final match yesterday where the ref was about 5 years out on his law knowledge. What is really annoying is that he was from the home club and is one of the first team coaches (L5), his lack of the tackle and maul laws was shocking and when asked by the captain to stop their players bridging (with their head on the floor) the response was "deal with it!"


Oh and another for the urban myth thread, if the ball falls off the kicking tea twice, you HAVE to take a drop kick :shrug:

There are times when I think that as players, coaches and referees get past level 6 the laws of rugby, their application and the participants' understanding enters some parallel, Alice-in-Wonderland dystopia. Did anyone listen to the total drivel uttered yesterday afternoon by the English commentary on S4C (Glasgow v Scarlets). If you did then you'll know that it is abundant evidence to support my claim.
 

Browner

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Out of interest what age group was this?

I'm guessing at U11 ?

starting to chill,

Dave.



Nottingham Corsairs U11.



Dave,
You are suffering from a severe case of "knowing too much for your good health" , mini/midi rugby is rife with differing standards, and the mere fact that you study on sites like this will compel you to similar experiences for the next good few years from time to time.

You need a coping strategy, i loved the minis development, but never again will I wander down into those development years, unless my vasectomy springs a leak without forewarning !
:holysheep:


 

menace


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And here I was going to tell Stormkahn to "suck it up princess, as it won't be the last time you'll see refereeing you won't like. Most of us have been through it with our young ones, so it's just your turn now."

I suggest Stormkahn that you cut your rant and be ready to paste it again at least once within the next 4 games. You won't need to change any words either.

You could always become a referee 'full time' to help others avoid those damn hopeless do-gooders?
 

Stormkahn

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Thanks guys, plenty of wise words. It's out of my system now. Generally we do cope and cope well, over the last 5-6 years we'd really thought we'd seen it all. We accept that not all refs are quite as neutral as they could be, we don't always get the rub of the green or have refs who can quote the laws backwards. That's fine.

I think part of it comes down to the fact that we were well and truly caught with our pants down; the standard was so so far below what we'd previously experienced we just did have anything to draw on. With our newly acquired hindsight we'll do much better next time I'm sure.

As it works out this week we're away to a team that we always have reffing issues with and was, until last weekend, by far the worst experience we've had. We'll suck it up and ruck over; it's all character forming.

keep smiling.

Dave.
 

ChrisR

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it's all character forming.


.... and the character that gets formed will be in your hands. One of the challenges of coaching (I'm a fellow coach) is to take the negatives and turn them into positives. Such as ...

Referee didn't know the law? OK, lads, here are three things the ref got wrong. Next practice I want to hear what the correct law is.

Boys, we know what 'squeezeball' is and why it's dangerous so we're going to practice our options at the tackle.

When a referee signals a PK or FK against us how must we react? Get angry or get back 10?

Easier said than done but learning to move on is an important life skill.
 

spikeno10

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I'm guessing at U11 ?

I'm not so sure. Not sure you'd see crying 11 year olds based on a referee decision.
Anyway given that we assume this is not U12 then I'm guessing the game was played under the NRoP.
That would then underline that the changes in the laws have had no impact on coaches or referees, if the very basics of the laws are not understood.
 

Stormkahn

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I'm not so sure. Not sure you'd see crying 11 year olds based on a referee decision. Anyway given that we assume this is not U12 then I'm guessing the game was played under the NRoP.That would then underline that the changes in the laws have had no impact on coaches or referees, if the very basics of the laws are not understood.
U11, NRoP and a bunch of very upset/confused kids. That's now history, onward and upward!
 
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