06 Jan Referees Corner – Issue 6

Welcome to another edition of Referees Corner. Wishing everyone involved with Leinster Rugby from players to supporters to referees to staff,  a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous new year. 

The Association of Referees Leinster Branch, or Leinster Rugby Referees as were are known in the modern era, not only provide qualified referees to Leinster rugby, the IRFU and beyond, many of our members sit on various committees across Leinster Rugby and also for the IRFU providing hugely valuable input and assistance. Paul Dolan, chair of the Administration Committee discusses how the Leinster Rugby Referees works, off the pitch. 

Externally, ARLB members sit on various Leinster branch committees (Executive, Competitions and Rugby).  We also provide a representative to the IRFU Committee and the IRFU Referee Committee. The ARLB itself is organized into a structure as laid out by the rules of the association, this structure can be summarized as follows:

The executive committee which is made up from the elected officers of the association (President, Senior Vice President, Junior Vice President, Honorary Secretary and Honorary Treasurer) as well as 10 other members made up from active and former referees.  

There are four standing committees covering Management, Rugby, Finance and Administration.  These are charged with operational matters, such as the refereeing of the game, all aspects of finance associated with its development, and the provision of administrative services.  There are also five Area representatives who sit on the executive committee and these five members provide regular monthly meetings/workshops across the various areas (Metro, North East, South East, North Midlands and Midlands) providing direct support for all our referees from those areas. 

As you can see, our members are busy, both on and off the field and not just during the rugby season, but all year around.  The association is a vibrant one, continuously evolving, improving and setting itself new goals to achieve each and every season.

Each season the members of the ARLB nominate and elect those members they wish to represent them for the coming season onto the Leinster executive committee, which is chaired by Ciaran O’Brien (Railway Union RFC) and in total nine members are elected annually.  

Our President, Senior Vice President, Junior Vice President, Honorary Secretary and Honorary Treasurer as well as two former referees and two active referees.  The latter four members sit on our executive committee as well as Leinster’s Rugby committee and competitions committee.  

For the 2019/20 season the ARLB are fortunate to have some excellent people holding these positions.  

Our president this season is Norman Carter (Roscrea RFC) and he is being supported by David Robb, Senior Vice President (Railway Union RFC) and Gordon Condell, Junior Vice President (Clondalkin RFC) with a goal for the season to ensure that every referee can achieve their potential with the possibility of refereeing at the highest level.  This season’s Honorary Secretary is Barry Armstrong (Terenure College RFC) and the Acting Honorary Treasurer is Keith Spendlove (Naas RFC).

The positions of former referees are held by Peter Donnelly (St Marys College RFC), Pat Carolan (Wicklow RFC), and active referees are Rose Alice Murphy (Old Belvedere RFC) and Graham Douglas (Balbriggan RFC).  Along with the nine elected members named above, there are five area representatives who are elected annually by their area members.  

This year the five area reps are:
Tom Colton, Metro Area (MU Barnhall RFC), Paddy Curran, Midlands Area (Roscrea RFC),

Joe McDermot, Northeast Area (North Meath RFC), John S Dunne, North Midlands Area (Portarlington RFC), Kevin McDermott, South East (County Carlow RFC)

These elected members make up the executive committee of the ARLB and are trusted with the running of the association as well as its future direction and providing ongoing education to all of the members in the ARLB. 

Below the executive committee are four main standing committees and they are chaired by the following members:

Management Committee – Mark Gargan (Old Wesley RFC)

Rugby committee – David McDonald (Seapoint RFC) *also the ARLB’s IRFU representative

Finance Committee – Simon Owens (Old Wesley RFC)

Admin Committee – Paul Dolan (Midland Warriors RFC)

Kit Sub-Committee – Simon Owens(Old Wesley RFC) and Tom Colton(MU Barnhall RFC)
Events Sub-Committee – Barry Redmond (Naas RFC) and Audrey Fulham (Tallaght RFC)

PRO – Dan Wallace (Terenure College RFC)

The ARLB as an association has many parts to it, those that our Junior and Senior rugby clubs see week in, week out throughout the season. With our active referees facilitating dozens of games per weekend from August to April.  Also providing Touch Judges and referees to All-Ireland league fixtures, schools fixtures, providing assessors and coaches to aid referee development. Even on the international stage, we provide TMOs, Citing Commissioners, ARs and Referees. 

Behind all of those men and women is a great support network of very well managed and structured committees guiding the association forward year in, year out.  Collaborating and communicating with Leinster Rugby, the IRFU and all of the clubs within Leinster on a continuous basis. To all those volunteers who work tirelessly and professionally behind the scenes.  A great deal of gratitude is owed to you all.

Have you got what it takes? The Leinster Referees always need more referees and opting to become one may be the best decision you’ve made for a long time. We will have a new recruit’s course on January 11th. 

Feel free to make contact with the Leinster Rugby Referees at hayley.whyte@leinsterrugby.ie contact by phone Hayley Whyte at 01-2235107 or Sam Holt sam.holt@leinsterrugby.ie 

If you are interested in becoming a referee get in contact with us through our Facebook, our website www.arlb.ie or through twitter @leinsterreferee.