Dear All
Welcome to the Referee Section for the 2011/2012 Season.
Last season we were delighted to be awarded the RFU President’s Award for the Best Referee Section at a club, which is very prestigious. Pete Paterson and other referees in the Section have worked hard over many seasons to reach this point and the Ealing Referee Section is regarded very highly by other clubs and the RFU for the training that we provide to our club referees, the quality of the refereeing at our club and also for the number of referees we have been able to train and introduce to the London Society of Referees.
Pete Paterson has decided to take a well earned break from running the section this year after a number of seasons. As President he will continue to assist us with his experience and enthusiasm. I am pleased to take over Pete’s role as chairman and hope that I will be able to move the Section forward, although I will have to learn to be as outspoken as Pete!
I am delighted that Marek Kostka will again be appointing referees to the Youth matches, while Man-Chung Tsang (MC) will be working with mini and youth sections to identify new referees and liaising with the RFU to deliver the ELRA training course. MC and Tim Harrison will be organising Fourth Officials for the 1st XV Club games, a very important role for National League 1 matches. Referees, coaches and others from the mini and youth sections will be asked to assist with performance of this role through the season.
Whilst it is rewarding to see referees gaining promotion and moving on to adult rugby, our absolute focus is to ensure that all referees at the Club can deliver the highest quality of refereeing at the level at which they wish to referee.
Working with the RFU, the London Society and the senior referees at the club, we propose to provide two coaching sessions before Christmas and at least one in the New Year, delivering practical refereeing and assistance to referees with issues that arise during the season. Not only do we wish to provide training to new adult referees, we also intend to provide coaching and mentoring to our youth players who have taken the ELRA course so that we capture the young refereeing talent that we will have in the club. More will follow on these sessions.
Several of our committed referees have assisted the senior amateur section of the club by providing their services at the Touch Rugby training sessions run over the summer months. Many thanks in particular to Robin Dann, Neil Ransom, and Michael Schaeffer. Next summer we hope to increase the number of referees taking part and to make this a more formalised service we deliver to the senior club.
Do please keep any eye on the Referee Section Website for updates.We welcome any questions or suggestions for the Section during the season.
Charlie Hodder
Chairman
