Latest / Cut The Kak / Rugby Referee Training: Byron's Journey
Transcript
- Byron: This weekend, did my completed my L1 for referee. So official. Thank you, Thank you. I am I am no longer a weird man just running around on the field. guess I still am a weird man running around the field. ⁓ I'm a qualified weird man running on the field now. Chad: That's good. You're an official referee. Just a qualified weird man running around the field. Byron: It was really cool. It was a full ⁓ day. It started at nine. I got home. I left there just after five. through some theory. Went different ways of approaching the laws. Different ways of approaching the game, which I thought was pretty cool. So how to think about making your decisions, where the information comes from, what you're for. I thought I doing an okay job before this, but they pointed out At least for me, I've noticed a lot of places where I was making errors can get better. One of the cool things was ⁓ watched us referees. There were two different instructors there. They watched us referee and then gave us pointers ⁓ what we should be doing better and that sort of thing. So there are referee coaches, which again, all new to me, didn't know this was a thing. ⁓ So yeah, you get like a Chad: That's crazy. Byron: that will watch you ref and then give you pointers at half time. What's going well, what went wrong, you can improve. So one of the things for me after I ref'd, one of the big things was my And she like, I did the same thing when I started. It's called a chariot position. ⁓ I can you something new here, Chad. And that is when it's one of the easier places for like a starting referee to try and stay out of the way of play. Chad: Yep. Byron: but still get a view on the rucks. You're kind of hanging out behind the ruck, behind the offensive line as it's playing. But she said, what I've got to start practicing is being more confident in getting closer to the ruck and almost standing in the defensive line while watching the game. So get in once the ball secure, move out into the defensive line so that you're already moving towards the next ruck as the game's going on. Chad: You who's really good at that and keeps getting hit? It's Angus Gardner. He keeps getting bombed. Byron: But that's what I'm so scared of. Like, I don't mind now at the moment that I'm playing with like people that are smaller than me, because they're all half my age. But when there's big boys out on the field and they're all bigger than I am, I want to be taken out like Angus Gardner. He's been flatlined before. ⁓ Chad: I know. And then last week, I think he also got really close on being chopped down. Yeah. That's, that's good. Byron: Yeah, yeah. So, I've got a, I've got a seventh tournament this Saturday. No, yes. Seventh tournament this Saturday, 10th tournament the next Saturday. And the. but I've got stuff lined up and then there's a ⁓ big beach competition, that they've asked me to referee at at the end of June. so that's, you it's happening. ⁓ I'm starting move into more official games, which is exciting and, you know, come give me shit just as I would give the other referee shit. So it's ⁓ fun. Chad: that'll get the calves going. Mmm. That's good, that's cool. That's so, cool. think the next intake will only be next year. I'm going to follow your path and see what happens. Byron: Do it. You also realize how much is going on in the referee's head and how easy it is to skip stuff. Yeah. Chad: Yeah I know. I've got a question. For when you were there on Saturday, how many referees were doing the same course as you in the Netherlands? Byron: Great question. So the way that it works is you can either go online, find out where the next event is, like the next training, and you can just, if you're part of the club, you can sign up and you can go to a different club and be part of the training. it does depend on numbers, you know, they're not gonna put in, because it's hosted by World Rugby, it wasn't hosted by Rugby Netherlands, was World Rugby, the trainers were from World Rugby. Chad: Yeah. Okay. Byron: But what you can do is if your club has enough interested members in doing the L1, then they'll host it at your club. So for us, for example, we had, we were playing what, seven of us? There were about 15, 16 of us, but only of that group two were actually looking to take refereeing seriously. The other guys who got their L1, were to get to know the game better. And it was also the captains that were there. So that they know what referees are looking for. And then as the captain of the side, they know how to speak to the ref to say, hey, you're not seeing this or you're not seeing that, or maybe you're interpreting it this way, but can you maybe look at it from this different angle? So I thought that was really cool and smarter than to include the captains, even though they're not gonna referee. Yeah. Chad: Mmm. Alright. Yeah, no, I think that's really good. Yeah. They need to do that stuff more in... ⁓ a younger age group, I reckon. That'll be fantastic for the game. Byron: So. Yeah, we had a lot ⁓ from, but I would say between the ages of 16 and 18, and then a few guys that were playing in the senior side, so, you know, 20 plus. But lot of them were on the younger side, especially the captains, they had the captains from like the much smaller groups. Chad: Yeah, it's pretty cool. Sorry.