Referees
- Thread starter PaarlBok
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chief said:
I did a lot of touch judging for Sydney grade matches in the early 2000s, when I was trim and fit that is (or, more truthfully, before my young bloke was shuffled off to boarding school and I hardly saw a grade game for six years). Touching is great fun and without a doubt the best view of a game of rugby to be had. Anyways, a few of those matches were whistled by Leckie and Bowden. Bowden was just finishing his Level 3 practicals and impressed me mightily. He is/was very, very fit, quite muscular, and always gave the players the impression he wanted to run a game they enjoyed. A smile never left his dial but behind that he let the players know they got away with nothing. Brett must've decided to finish off his compulsory practicals away from home as his ref's association was the ACTRU. He was a pleasure to work with and I'm surprised he's been discarded.
Leckie, on the other hand, is a small, wiry bugger with a crouch and a schoolmaster's disciplinary attitude when players muck up. His day job is/was sportsmaster at Trinity Grammar, Summer Hill. When things got a bit out of hand James seemed to be just that bit behind what the players were going to get up to, in stark contrast to Bowden who had that wonderful ability to nip fraught situations in the bud. On top of that Leckie's cursed with a weak voice and struggled to get players to follow his instructions. But he is a good technical referee.
Another ref I did a few games with was Peter Marshall, right at the end of his career. In my opinion Marshall was an outstanding ref but cursed with one of the most unpleasant voices I've ever heard; it was as rough as guts and at half time I was looking for a pair of earmuffs.
I also did a few games with Damien Michelmore, very, very good technically, his positioning was lovely to watch, but I think I got him early in his senior career when he wasn't so forceful; honestly, he was so quiet you wouldn't know he was on the field. Another game I just missed out on was one by Mark Lawrence the week before a test in Sydney: I got bumped to Pirates' seconds by someone more senior. Lawrence has, without doubt, the best ability I've ever seen in a ref to position himself to watch what's going on. His movement around the field was simply outstanding, a pleasure to watch.
Lee Grant
John Eales (66)
Good comments Lindommer.
We non-referee types don't notice that kind of thing a lot but it's something that I'll watch a bit from now on.
I watch so many rugby games every week being retired and having the time to do so that I sometimes get jaded. To freshen my viewing ability up I try different things. One I can recommend to everybody is, for some games, to watch the defending side at the breakdown, including when the ball is spun out and a back is tackled.
It is of tremendous interest but it takes a while to get down pat because your eye is always dragged back to the ball. Sometimes you get a sea- sick feeling. Other times I may concentrate on restarts and another on picking up the ball form the base of the scrum etc, etc.
But now you have given me another one - watching the positioning of the ref. I have never concentrated on that before whether I was at the ground or watching on TV - though I always had the feeling that Honiss was a dab hand at it.
Agree about Bowden. I think he's a good ref and all the local ACT guys look up to him. I will never forget his comment when he was refereeing the Super 14 in the RSA. IIRR he was called in to ref for some reason whereas he was supposed to be a TJ. Anyway, he was playing advantage for some team and they scored. He raised his arm to signal the try, grinned and said: "Advantage over."
Ya gotta love a guy like that.
We non-referee types don't notice that kind of thing a lot but it's something that I'll watch a bit from now on.
I watch so many rugby games every week being retired and having the time to do so that I sometimes get jaded. To freshen my viewing ability up I try different things. One I can recommend to everybody is, for some games, to watch the defending side at the breakdown, including when the ball is spun out and a back is tackled.
It is of tremendous interest but it takes a while to get down pat because your eye is always dragged back to the ball. Sometimes you get a sea- sick feeling. Other times I may concentrate on restarts and another on picking up the ball form the base of the scrum etc, etc.
But now you have given me another one - watching the positioning of the ref. I have never concentrated on that before whether I was at the ground or watching on TV - though I always had the feeling that Honiss was a dab hand at it.
Agree about Bowden. I think he's a good ref and all the local ACT guys look up to him. I will never forget his comment when he was refereeing the Super 14 in the RSA. IIRR he was called in to ref for some reason whereas he was supposed to be a TJ. Anyway, he was playing advantage for some team and they scored. He raised his arm to signal the try, grinned and said: "Advantage over."
Ya gotta love a guy like that.
PaarlBok
Rod McCall (65)
Myself like to look at the way the ref communicate with the players. Mark lawrense is pretty good with this and at least look like he is enjoying his reffing. Some like them to be like robots or school masters , myself hate that. Its not schoolboy rugby.
Paarl Gym have their own up and coming young ref now climbing the ladder. Talk to him a lot and it aint a easy job.
His profile
http://www.sareferees.co.za/sarefs/profiles/965514.htm
Paarl Gym have their own up and coming young ref now climbing the ladder. Talk to him a lot and it aint a easy job.
His profile
http://www.sareferees.co.za/sarefs/profiles/965514.htm
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