Think you can do any better as a ref? Now here’s your chance...
THERE’S not a committeeman, player or fan in Welsh rugby clubs who thinks they can’t do a better job than the referee.
And those outspoken critics of officialdom now have the chance to put the whistle where their mouth is.
Because the Welsh Rugby Union are calling on their clubs to help ease the strain of providing referees for an average 168 league games on each weekend in the season.
Despite having 210 qualified officials in Wales, the introduction of the Celtic Cup competition last weekend has added to the demand on refereeing resources within the country.
The WRU have a target of providing 100 per cent coverage of league matches each weekend, but with a shortfall of Level Two referees, officiating youth and second team games has become a bit of a struggle.
So, the Union have sent out a circular to Welsh rugby clubs asking if any fans, committeemen or players want to become referees.
The plan is to roll out free refereeing courses in each of the four regions to give applicants the basics of officiating second team matches.
And the recruitment drive has had a positive response with WRU referees boss Paul Adams having 30 applications for far and hopefully the promise of more to come.
“Normally we average of about 168 games we have to cover in the National League right up to the PRO14,” said the WRU National Performance Manager for referees.
“The new Celtic Cup, that’s come in, also means we have to provide five officials to each of those games.
“That’s put a little bit of an increase on us and pinch points in the season comes at school holidays, as we’ve got a lot of teachers as referees.
“We have a target of 100 per cent coverage whereas other nations like Ireland, and I was talking to their manager on the weekend, have a 90 per cent target and they’ve never covered that many games.
“In that respect we are doing rather well but we’re just being proactive with this circular to the clubs.
“For a second team game very often it’s only 12-a-side and goes ahead with non-contested scrums.
“If we can’t get a referee to it, we’re after somebody who could go in there and do the game, rather than have it cancelled.
“We thought let’s put the onus back on the clubs.
“Personally I would encourage players to referee, so every club side in Wales would have an official.
“That’s not realistic so we thought we’d put this out and we’ve had a great response with 30 applicants.
“We’re waiting until the end of the week and we’ll put on a course on a regional basis.
“If we can get 40 people willing to help out in a club environment it might spur them on for doing it properly.
“When we put on a referee’s course what we do is go right through from under-nines right the way up.
“But what we’ll do is just cover the senior game and emphasise the dangers in the scrum and tackle. If a club did come to us on a Friday without a referee, then one of their club members could do it and we’d send down an advisor to give them support for the initial games they do.
“What we’re trying to do is being a bit more proactive and rather than scrabbling around on a Friday and Saturday morning trying to move referees all over the place, we’ll have a band of officials ready to take over in an emergency.
“We’ve got 210 referees to service the National Leagues and having between 150 and 170 games each weekend we should have enough officials over... but it never works out that way.”
Anyone interested in taking up the whistle are asked to contact ref.admin@wru.wales.