Farr from the crowd but Martin has big role at Games
ASHBOURNE Rugby Club stalwart Martin Farr is playing a big role as an administrator for the Commonwealth Games’ seven-aside rugby tournament this week.
Farr is based in Coventry for the event, where the men’s and women’s rugby tournaments are being squeezed into a packed three day schedule at the Coventry Building Society Arena, better known under its original name, the Ricoh.
After volunteering to help out and going through a rigorous interview process, Farr has the grand-sounding title of International Federation Services Team Manager – but he plays down its importance.
“I didn’t know what that was, to be honest, when they first told me,” he said.
“I’m still just a small cog in a very big wheel but you do feel like you’re very involved and part of something.”
When he was interviewed, Farr’s long experience of organising county-wide and district-wide events in his sport would have scored highly, as well as his past as a player, coach and team manager with Ashbourne.
“I applied a year ago and was first interviewed in London in February,” he said.
“After that there was a lot of online training for things like terrorism and racism awareness. Then I went to Birmingham a month ago to find out what I’d be doing in detail.”
Now Farr has settled in, taking his caravan to a site about four miles from the stadium and either cycling in or catching public transport. The Games have a target of being Co2-free, with no car parks for visitors or officials.
He thinks he will be in charge of a team of about five people and their roles will include such things as checking that team sheets are handed in as they should be, that referees’ microphones are working and that everyone involved with a match is in the right place at the right time and ready to go.
It is a big operation for a stadium that would normally be hosting two teams for an event.
The male rugby sevens involves 16 teams and there are eight women’s teams, with their tournaments running simultaneously.
They start on Friday with 12 games in four hours in the morning, then 12 more in the afternoon and evening.
It is the same on Saturday, reaching the quarter-finals in the afternoon.
Then, semi-finals and finals are on Sunday.
“I’m working on the late shift and there is a matching team doing the mornings,” said Farr.
“I’ll be in the belly of the stadium, so I’ll probably only see the games on TV screens there.
“They have established two temporary practice pitches in the car park and the adjacent Coventry Arena has had 24 temporary changing rooms installed.
“The teams are all staying at the University of Warwick, on the outskirts of Coventry.”
The kit he has been issued with is a bold orange and blue with what he describes as “a Peaky Blinder-like hat!”
And he adds: “I wanted to wear shorts, as I do mostly from February to November, but I was categorically told ‘no!’ which is a pain!”
When the matches are over, Farr’s work is not. The officials have 24 hours to oversee emptying the stadium of all things rugby before wrestling and judo take over.
But, then, finally, he will be able to relax. “We have tickets for beach volleyball, hockey, netball and some of the athletics,” he added.