This game was quite an honor to be selected to referee - too bad I didn't do a better job with it. There was a sizable crowd (500-1000) out for a big charity (Pink Ribbons - Breast Cancer) match with both teams wearing some pink and some ribbons. I had a team of 5 referees for this game (but no TMO unfortunately) - a first for me. Two on the touchlines, two managing substitutes, and myself in the middle. It was a Friday 730 KO at about 60 degrees with a decent breeze. Played on a football field, so field was narrow and posts were at the back of the ingoal.
St. Thomas and Strake Jesuit are the two catholic school rivals in Houston - and Strake Jesuit typically hammer St. Thomas in every sport ......but rugby. St Thomas were clearly the better rugby team and I knew this going into the match having refereed Strake and STH multiple times this season.
I'll now start my chronology for this game:
6:00 AM
Arrive at work, brought my refereeing kit with me. Busy day at work, preparing because I was traveling all of the next week for a training program. I had a lot of work and decisions to make for the next weeks priorities in my absence. Left work at 430 PM .
6 PM (yes, 1.5 hour commute, should only be about 20 minutes. houston traffic is ridiculous)
Arrived at the field and entered the coaches/referees locker room. The STH coaches were there and my ARs began to filter in. Chatter continues.
7 PM
Informed to go out to field. Strake and STH are beginning warmups. Check boots and have chats with teams. Then there is confusion about how everyone will walk out onto field and where. This was getting sorted out and eventually we stroll out for the anthems. Turned out very formal and very well done.
7:25 PM
Captains chat, time to go. What was missing? My warmups. I never made time for myself to mentally prepare for the game.
7:30 PM KO
Game kicks off, STH immediately dominates. STH are going forward and getting easy ball off every phase. STrake jesuit are immediately offside for not getting back far enough. This continues - Strake and trying their darndest to compete but just dont know how. The only way they can compete is illegally with some seriously flagrant hands in the rucks, offside, etc. etc. etc. I was rightly penalizing them but was getting very frusturated with their nonresponse to my management and the seriousness with which STH was tossing them around.
I lost my touch with the game for too much sympathy - i tried to let some of Strake's illegal dealings go and STH didnt appreciate it, starting taking care of it themselves....as any good rugby team should. My attempts to regain that control from STH from then on simply just caused nightmares for both sides (maybe not strake) and myself.
Now for the notes and the things that happened:
-Bad infringing from Strake as they were getting beat so badly. should have been punishing them more to get control, instead - too much sympathy
-Strake players kept on ending up in the air. Not clear if this was because of their jumping or STH tackle technique. Yellow given the second time a Strake player ended up flipped over (the first he was let down carefully)
-Then I had brain fart as I was getting more and more frusturated. A STH player got very angry, got quite malicious and used some very strong words while taking out a retiring Strake player off the ball. I sent the STH player off (red card). This was quite embarassing for the club and myself really - total loss of control. Now this is not apparent to spectators of coaches - but I could certainly feeling it wasnt going right, and I could feel it right from the kickoff.
So, an unfortunate end to what could have been a great event. Put it behind me, slapped myself around a little bit, and mentally prepared for my Division 1 Men's Evaluation the next day: HARC @ HUNS.
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