Updates- Week of 9/20

Good morning everyone,

I hope you all had a great weekend, and thanks to everyone who got out there and refereed. We mostly had great weather, and a good amount of exciting rugby as all of our leagues are now going full speed. Here are this week’s notes:

• Card Reporting
  • All yellow and red cards in league matches must be reported, and red cards in friendlies should also be reported. Whenever possible, please get the name of the offending player(s) after the match. Some leagues have an automatic suspension after three yellow cards in the season, so it’s important that we do our part. The form is on our website, under resources:  https://nystaterugbyrefs.com/resources/

• Global Law Trials, In-Goal Chart
  • I recently found a good chart that outlines what to do in each case where the ball ends up in/through in-goal, depending on who brought it in and who made it dead. A link to the chart will be on our website, but here’s a graphic as well (please make sure you study it):

• Match Film
  • If you see that a team is filming the match, please ask them to provide you with a copy (or a YouTube link). We want to do more peer review, but that only works when we get film. We as a society will also be asking that teams provide film to referees.

• Referee Reports
  • I will be reaching out to coaches later today as part of a new initiative. You may have seen in the WhatsApp group that I’m asking for trends that you’re seeing in matches. I plan on providing that info to coaches each week, as well as what information we have in terms of managing these areas.
    • Please feel free to provide me with your insights- ideally, level of match and the general issue. For example: D3 Men’s match, off feet and offside near the ruck
  • On the flip side, I will also be asking teams to fill out our referee feedback form. We want to hear from teams how referees are doing- both the good and the bad. It will help us promote and reward referees who are improving, and will also allow us to address issues as they arise. [It also gives us a better chance to get film.]

• WhatsApp
  • Again, feel free to join the WhatsApp group that Swing started. There’s been a lot of good discussion there. Link: https://chat.whatsapp.com/Kr0xHHtkTIaA663gblZvr3

• ANCRR Development Series- Next Meeting 9/28
  • Our next ANCRR Development Series meeting will take place on Sept. 28 at 8pm over Zoom. We’re working on having a referee do a quick 15 minute presentation on a specific topic, then having a Q&A on the topic. The rest of the time is for referees to chat with each other. If you have questions about something specific that happened in a match, feel free to make a clip or ask the group for their opinion. Refereeing is way more fun when we build a community around it, so please join in.