Referees Corner No. 11 2019

Welcome to another edition of Referees Corner. Exciting times at referee towers. We have given our much loved and visited website  www.arlb.ie a much needed refresh. Many thanks to Arthur Dupont of AD-Dev, John Montayne of Montimedia and ARLB PRO Dan Wallace for their hard work on the site. We look forward to making some additions and updates to the site over the coming weeks. I’m sure you will agree that it looks great. We were one of the first referee societies / associations to have a website and are delighted to continue to represent refereeing in this fashion. On the website you will find plenty of information on refereeing and becoming a referee, laws of the game (they’re not rules), safety information, upcoming events and also appointments. Many thanks to Gerry O’Sullivan, Pat Dempsey and Sportsfile for the fine photos you see on the site.

A number of our referees are in high profile action recently. Sean Gallagher was the referee for France v Wales Women Six Nations game on 2 February and will also be the AR 1 for England v Italy on 9 March in the same competition. Sean will Referee the U20 Six Nations fixture between Wales and England 22 February.  Brian MacNeice was TMO for Italy v Wales Women on 9 February. Things have been busy on the domestic front also with the Leinster Schools Senior Cup Quarter Finals in full swing. Gonzaga v Terenure was refereed by Cillian Hogan, Belvedere v Newbridge by Colm Roche, Clongowes v CBC Monkstown by Andrew Cole and  Blackrock v St Michaels by Nigel Correll. Our referees looked great in their new Adidas kit and it was also fantastic to see the games back on television. We’re looking forward to the second round of the Junior Challenge Cup and the Semi Finals of the Senior Challenge Cup.

The annual dinner of the Leinster Rugby Referees is the highlight of our somewhat limited social calendar and is always a great event. It will take place this year in Lansdowne FC on Saturday 23^rd March and will be hosted by Leinster Rugby Referees President Bryan O’Neill of Lansdowne FC. A large gathering of provincial presidents, referees, assessors’ guests and friends will attend the evening which was organised by the Referees Administration committee under Simon Owens and Wayne Sheridan.

On the night our annual awards are handed out. There are four main awards, one for lifetime achievement – the Ham Lambert Award (2017/18 Brian Pender), one for referee of the year – the Harold Ardill Award (2017/18 Berney White), one for Referee Performance of the Year – the Alain Rolland Award which was introduced in 2015 year (2017/18 Cillain Hogan Helen O’Reilly ) and one for club of the year – the Terry Doyle Memorial Award (20142017/18 Old Wesley RFC). The club of the year award is voted by the active referees of the association, so be kind to your referees for the next few weeks!! More in our next article about this year’s awards and winners.

It was also great to see 23 eager attendees at the New Referees Course in Terenure College on January 26th. Sean Gallagher (IRFU) presented an excellent introduction to refereeing and the various laws that go with it and he was ably assisted by Gary Glennon and Fiona Mallen. Bryan O’Neill, David Mc Donald and Denis Collins also joined in at various stages of the day. We thank everyone for their participation, and we are looking forward to seeing our new referees out on the pitch soon.

Want to get involved?

Feel free to make contact with the Leinster Rugby Referees at denis.collins@leinsterrugby.ie or contact by phone Denis Collins at 01-2235107 or Sean Gallagher sean.gallagher@irfu.ie. If you are interested in becoming a referee get in contact with us through our Facebook page, our website www.arlb.ie or through twitter @leinsterreferee.