I drove up Friday evening straight from work only to be welcomed by a hotel on the lake with a parking lot of full of rugby referees and beer. After all, the Old Boys pool play (over 35s, 45s, and 50s divisions) was that day, all of the referees for that part of the tournament needed to recover somehow.
It was great to meet up with many referees I had met before at previous events: Texas referees from Rucktoberfest (Boone, NC), MARFU referees from the Pittsburgh U19, and of course, plenty of NY State and New England Referees. From their we made the responsible decision to go to the "watering hole," for what turned out to be the bar for the weekend. Ended up turning in around 11-12 on friday night with some late night italian food.
For referees, Saranac Lake tournament organizers do it right, they provide an AWESOME breakfast....I even managed to eat paleo both mornings. Delicious eggs, bacon, sausage, and plenty of fruit. Now for the catch, you HAVE to go to breakfast, before 630, to even be assigned your games. On saturday morning (following the watering hole) one referee did not make it and had all of his games surrendered.My schedule for the day was as follows:
8 AM Lake Placid - Women - Doylestown 22 v. 7 Hudson Valley
My guess is I was assigned this because I'm a first year saranac referee.....I got an 8 am game about 30 minutes away in Lake Placid...meaning I was very lucky to have packed my kit before breakfast so I could get there in time.At any rate, I arrived, warmed up, almost forgot my watches, then made my way to the field. I did my chats with the teams and got ready for kick off only for "SIR! Where's the ball?".......We as referees were provided a ball for each field...I conveniently forgot mine at the ref's tent. So....I pointed to the first reasonable ball I saw on the sideline...good thing too, I definetely wouldve gone to court for that (another referee in placid did. He stupidly went back to the tent for the ball! silly scottish boy.... all the other refs turned him in).
Now for my performance.... I was not happy. It was 8 am and I was probably a bit rusty/tired, but I could tell the ladies/coaches were not too...impressed. At any rate, I took my typical approach to this game, trying to manage the penalties out of the game and doing the best job I could. Apparently the ladies thought I was a tad inconsistent and did not give clear signals... I just thought I was managing the game and infringements the best I could - maybe they wanted me to blow my whistle a lot more...maybe they were a bit hungover, who knows. Anyway, the game was clearly won by Doylestown and I do recall one error I'm unhappy with. I played a penalty advantage to Doylestown....they proceeded to get go forward ball and "not release" I immediately awarded the "no advantage" to Doylestown only for Hudson to be convinced it was their penalty and argue.....Doyles quicktapped and ran in a score. So, maybe I shoudl have been clearer, maybe the opposition was just stupid, I just wish they would have been back to have a fair shot at defending.I also did not mention the field marking...there was a yellow line and then about 2 meters further was a white line (lacrosse). A girl almost ran out the back because the lining issues (she got it down just in time). It caused confusions for teams all day (defensively) and may have helped and hindered teams.
Next game:
11 AM Lake Placid - Social - Blackhorse Alumni 27 - 15 Akron
After the 8 am game frusturations I decided no more gray area in my refereeing...I'm going to be a hard ass. I went into this game with the mindset...I'm going to manage..but I'm not going to let anything fly and I am giong to set a very strict standard in the first phases of the game. And so I did....in one of the first few breakdowns a Blackhorse player went straight into the ruck off his feet, sealing off...I pinged him, and Akron kicked the penalty straight in front of the posts. From then on, I probably gave 3-4 penalties for the same offense. I also awarded quite a few other penalties, there was definetly a high count for this game. I didnt like it...I was blowing my whislte more than normal..but the players did not seem to complain...I would like to think they just tried to clean up their act. In sum, the game was close, 20-15 at the end with Akron on a strong attack to score....only to have their last past intercepted and ran in 70 meters to score (making it 27-15).
I was also happy with my scrum management with this game, I really was able to pick out teh good binds and problem areas. When Akron tried to whip wheel (pull), I picked up on it immediately, knew exactly what had happened, and penalized the offender...no question.
Also, this game had one of the funniest rugby moments I have ever experienced. White was being jersey tackled and was trying to wrestle his way out of it....the jersey ended up pulled over his and only around his arms....he was still going forward with the ball and tackled. Akron went to try and strip the ball from him...the player had released the ball, but his shirt had not! the ball was totally enveloped in the shirt. After a couple tugs Akron (Blue) pulled the jersey (filled with the ball) from the player. He then proceeded to take it forwarded and get tackled...Ruck formed...ball at the back of the ruck (still in the jersey). The halfback then takes the ball (jersey and all) and passes to the flyhalf to play! By this point the whole sideline is clapping at the hilarity of the situation. The flyhalf looks at me with a deer in the headlights look...what do I do??? At that stage, I blew my whistle and awarded a blue scrum. I do wish teh flyhalf took it and kept playing though...would have been pretty funny especially had he kicked it.
Here is a similar situation, mine went a phase further:
3 PM Saranac Lake - Social - Lockport v. Hudson Valley
This game was a close one, Bright Green vs. Bright Green, but I had a very good time refereeing it. I had the same attitude for this game as the last but the penalty count for this was significantly lower...I think my management became more effective.
I did have a strange issue in this game, both teams were anticipating my engage and leaning in. That took some management and made me remember a previous coaching point..my cadence tends to be crouch, touch, pausengage. It's more like 3 steps, my pauseengage transition is very quick. I changed it during the game, I warned the players to wait until my ENGAGE, and then was forced to use my whistle.
Now, I recall a few other memorable moments:
A 50 plus guy, playing hooker this game, made a crossfield kick under pressure....to his son on the wing. I unfortunately could tell that his son was offside, but man I should have really rewarded the effort since the kick actually landed in the kids arms, an amazing feat for a 50 plus hooker, lol.
There was also a charged clearance kick that tipped up into the air in goal, three players jumped in the air for it, 1 Hudson (defending) and 2 Lockport (attacking), none of them gained possession and it came down into a pile beneath them all. I was right on top the situation and saw lockport hands on the ball as it went to ground....but a hudson back/side was also on it. My decision, given clearly and quickly, was a try for Lockport. A very close call to make, was it right? I can't be sure, but it's what I thought in that moment.
Overall a bottom bracket fun social game, now on to the post game.
Saturday Evening
The New England Referee Society put on a spectacular dinner (paleo qualified). Lots of steak, chicken, salad, and beer. We drank plenty of a new favorite beer of mine, Lake Placid Brewing Company's Ubu Ale.
At any rate, we got on with a highly entertaining pirate themed kangaroo court. It was kept to a very reasonable length, only 4 cases, we funneled some beverages, and made our way back to the watering hole. Plenty of shenanigans went down, but I shall not reveal......here's a pic. We returned around 130-2 that night.
Sunday Morning
Again, up for the 630 AM breakfast. I took a supply of B vitamins and emergenC the night before to fight my hangover...with some degree of success I think. Unfortunately, I found out that when I turned my ankle at the bar last night it did actually get hurt. I was limping all morning, but visited the physio at the fields, got my ankle wrapped up, used my usual braces, and got to it.
9 AM - Saranac Lake - Akron 20 v. Old Gold 7
It started raining right as the game started, but not too badly. Akron totally murdered the Old Gold scrum in this game, managing to drive back and steal many of them.
I was very fortunate in this game to have two assistant referees, especially considering my mobility because of my hurt ankle. I have had assitants before, but I never really felt I used them. In this game, however, I really noticed myself referring and glancing at my assistants for their opinion's on knocks/forwards and lineout infringements. Maybe they were faster and closer to play than other assistants I have had, but I felt very comfortable referring and working with my assistants on this game.
Overall, I thought the game went very smoothly, but I disagree with one of my calls. Akron carried the ball forward, was tackled, and made a poor ball placement. Akron and Old Gold came in and formed the ruck, but the ball was in the middle where the half back could not reach. Old Gold drove hard and was turned in the ruck when driving over and kiled the ball. I penalized Old Gold for illegal zone entry / in the side but the right call there was a stuck ball...scrum to Gold as they were actually driving forward.I also had a referee coach watching this game and he pointed out that within 5 minutes Gold committed 4 red zone penalties (red zone being inside their 22). This warranted a talking to and formal admonishment, but I failed to have this chat.
This brought to an end my Saranac Refereeing for 2009. From here I retired to a shower and headed to the premier field.
The rest of the day proved eventful, including a nasty downpour during the over 35s final....Schenectady lost 0-3...a dour affair. The weather improved after the over 35s final for the rest of the day, providing for some good rugby.Overall, this was a great event, I met many referees, met some old playing friends, and made many more.
