Murphy serves rugby as a ref and a chef
Rugby referee Dennis Murphy will call this afternoon’s match between Newfoundland and an Atlantic Selects team at Swilers Complex, and the players had better not give him too much trouble because he’s feeding all of them about three hours later.
Murphy, a former Swilers player and women’s rugby coach, is a level 2 official along with being a professional chef. In his latter role, Murphy is responsible for about 450 players who are participating this weekend in the Eastern Canadian championships at Swilers Complex.
Asked if any of the players have ever complained about the food, he replied: “Most people don’t complain when they get the food for free.”
Murphy, 50, went on tour with the Swilers club team to Germany this spring where he got to officiate one game, was an assistant referee in another and ran touch in one as well. He also got to help a younger official.
He said the experience was well worth it and he recommends all local clubs do the same thing in terms of taking along a referee on their trips.
“Right now ,the players are developing quicker than the officials. For the development of the game, the officials should be progressing at the same pace as the players,” he said.
Murphy said it is difficult to com- pare playing with officiating.
“With officiating,m I do the same amount of running without doing any of the work. But I do enjoy officiating and, like everyone else, I have my good games and my bad games. I hate missing a call. It’s like missing a tackle.”
One thing he found out in talking to German officials while he was in Hanover is that they have the same problems and concerns as the local referees in that there is a lack of qualified people to do games and a lack of respect from some players for the officials. The trip wasn’t all fun. There was a moment of reflection when the team toured the Dachau concentration camp in Southern Germany.
Murphy called that visit ‘Very sobering… very moving.
“I stood five feet from the ovens where the bodies were burned. I stood in the shower rooms. I saw the barracks and a saw a wall where they put people up against it and shot them.”
Murphy said he’s sure the experience affects people differently, “but,” he added, “I had a little diffi- culty just being in the country after that.”
••••• Former Memorial Sea-Hawks basketball player Teresa Butler, who was a handful when she played for the Sea-Hawks, is living in Vancouver and is co-founder of Eco Mama’s Global Community Gardens.
The organization has a “strong vision” to build eco communities in developing countries all over the world, starting next year in rural Uganda in East Africa. “Our goal is to begin building our first eco community in Uganda by February 1, 2014,” noted Butler.
Starting in September, Butler will embark on The Thirsty Bucket Trek, a 90day walk for awareness, with a full water jug carried on her head, across the Trans Canada Trail.
At 30 kilometres per day, the trek will start from Vancouver with the goal of raising enough money to support the eco community overseas.
Accompanying Butler will be a support team to document the journey. She explained the water jug she carries is symbolic and designed to raise awareness towards women all over the world who journey for hours on hot earth with naked feet, to collect fresh (and often dirty) water for their families every day.
“So pretty intense right?,” Butler wrote me in an e-mail.
Butler, who has played rugby locally and competed in the Royal St. John’s Regatta, will be home in December to do more fundraising for the Eco community project.
It’s really amazing what former Memorial University students are into these days.
••••• There’s a desperate need for more ice time in St. John’s. Everyone knows that.
Someone at a minor hockey meeting told me five years ago the capital city could use another three ice surfaces, at least.
Now the lack of ice time has begun to affect recreational hockey players.
I’m told players in the Mundy Pond Recreation League, a setup that’s operated for 37 years at Twin Rinks, has been told its starting time has been switched from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. In fact, all the rec leagues have been pushed back to later time starts.
The Mundy Pond crowd is especially upset because they feel their money over the years has helped pay for Twin Rinks and they should be treated better under the circumstances.