8/1/2009 - 8/2/2009 Saranac Lake CAN-AM Tournament

This was a fantastic tournament to be involved with. Over 100 teams, daily 75 degree weather, beautiful Adirondack surroundings, and a small mountain resort town totally taken over by rugby for the weekend...I couldn't ask for better.

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.

7/17/2009 Charity 7s

This is an annual 7s tournament hosted by the Raleigh Vipers benefit charity in Raleigh, NC. The tournament also coincided with my 23rd birthday this year.....so I decided to go home, visit my girlfriend, my parents, and all my old rugby friends.

Many old teammates from the Vipers were there, as were teammates from my university club, NC State.
It was a well staffed event, each referee only having to officiate 4 games.

Some interesting moments:

I was knocked over in one game....I think it was UNC v. Sir Walter Raleigh. I got straight back to my feet but I'm glad I didn't turn out like this ref:


I also had a QF end in a tie...thankfully we went straight to sudden death overtime...I didn't want to have to host ANOTHER penalty kick shootout!

The tournament organizer, knowing how far I traveled and my level of refereeing, made the decision to award me the tournament final....ECU v. Sir Walter Raleigh (a raleigh team).

It was a close game, but Raleigh's experience proved too much for ECU's pace. The strangest refereeing moment I recall in the game was when a ball flew vertically (about 30-40 feet) from a player's grasp. The ball was punched from a raleigh player's grasp....something I had never really seen before. I deemed it a knock on by Raleigh and told the ECU player to tackle not punch the ball....is this the right decision? It just seemed like such a strange action to me.

7/11/2009 Acton 10s

A lot of the same as Springfield, a good social tournament.

I remember my first game of the day was a ladies motley green (springfield) v. motley green (middlesex)! fun stuff! I recall calling a knock on only for it to have actually been a girl on the other team...dont know if I should have done this....but I hadnt signalled for the knock yet so I upgraded it to a penalty when I realized she was offside!

I also had my first experience with Boston Irish Wolfhounds, playing against Newport Riptide. I recall trying to get the #5 to roll away, clearly communicating it and awarding penalty advantage. Unfortunately, he got up, rolling away, but then elected to pick the ball up from the wrong side of the ruck! I was amazed! a flagrant professional foul I thought and deserved of a card. I'm not sure what the right decision was, but I ended up not carding the player and just gave him a stern talking to. My problem with what is a normal penalty in this case was that it was obviously intentional, there was absolutely no grey area or possiblity to misunderstand, it was flagrant. At any rate, BIW totally outclassed the other side anyway to win.

Another interesting moment of the day was the tournament final, where the referee with about 2-3 minutes to go RED CARDED (SENT OFF) a BIW player for backchat. According to the referee, it was only going to be a yellow for a consistent "your useless ref!" but when the referee requested the BIW player talk to him, the BIW told the referee "NO! your a bloody plonker!" at which point, the yellow was upgraded to red. Following this, Mystic River came out winners of what turned out to be a very entertaining final.

Also, kudos to the tournament organizer. He did an excellent job. The fields though...they were short and narrow with misaligned posts...nevertheless, it was a social tournament and a good time.

6/27/2009 Springfield 7s

This was a very fun day of 7s. I always enjoy 7s tournaments because it's a great opportunity to see many of your fellow referees, see the referee team picture above!

I don't have lot of notes from the games but I do recall that at this tournament, all three fields shared in-goal areas with each other. Well, the middle field shared both ingoal areas, the other two just shared the middle. Amazing.

As far as I know, no problems were had with this, but I was still surprised to see SHARED ingoal areas.

I recall that my first game had no penalties, something I was pretty happy about.

I had the opportunity to referee the Open final at this tournament, South Shore v. Boston 2. It was a repeat of the final from Worcester 7s, with the same winner, South Shorre.

6/20/2009-6/21/2009 Pittsburgh U-19 NASC

This tournament was a tough decision for me, and will add to this post as time goes on.

At the last minute I decided to take a day of vacation from work and make the 8 hour drive to Pittsburgh for the East Coast u19 Challenge...all star teams from all the local area unions up the east coast.

I had never been yelled at more before in my whole career refereeing. It was absolutely appalling to me, but when you referee higher levels you are expected to be perfect.

I could write and write about errors I made, especially I have videos of two of my games thanks to bill burch http://www.lineoutvideo.com/.

I had tried to apply many of the NERFU tourney evaluator's tips, but my only resolution to that is I was not ready to. I was stressed out about missing work and attending this tournament at such short notice, It all affected me and I just dont feel like I refereed well....as I already said...especially after seeing the video.

Looking back on the games I had some just plain wrong calls. I never had a win/loss effect on a game, but I really question some of my 50/50 gray area calls. If there's anything to take away from this tournament I think it is to establish my standard firmly from the start in non-consequential positions (feed, bridging v. collapse, foot up, etc.). It's not a fond memory of the weekend.

Despite my perceived poor performances, the tournament assignors gave me a great game on Sunday, the u-17 final, MetNY v. N Ohio. I had ARs for this game but for w/e reason I defended all of my decisions when they were really giving me good advice from the sidelines...I was just stubborn and insecure of my performances over the weekend.

Enough trashing myself, it was a very valuable experience and a great test. I know where my mistakes were, and know what I want to work on. I met some great referees and made some great new friends, I will see them all at saranac very soon.

6/13/2009-6/14/2009 NRU U-19 Ladies, LAU All Stars

After the two CDYR games I traveled down the to the Albany Knicks field to referee to ladies U19 All star games.

The first game was New England vs. Met NY. Met NY lost some girls the night before to prom duties and injury, barely having a full side. New England ran away with this game easily.

The second game of the day was New England v. NYS. This was a very competitive game, I was impressed with many of these girl's athleticism. New England eventually ran out winners, I think the score was 20-10.

I unfortunately started to experience bad overuse pain my right leg. I tried some rehab on saturday without much success, I tried refereeing on sunday, but for the first time ever, forfeited my game about halfway through to another referee.

New England were eventual comprehensive winners of the tournament.

6/13/2009 CDYR Tournament

To start with a side note, I made the times union! this is from back in April when I did these girls first game of rugby. http://blog.timesunion.com/youthsports/youth-rugby-kicks-off/708/

This was the first annual Capital District Youth Rugby Tournament. To sum it up, it has been a great pleasure being involved with the development of this league in its third year. I've been able to help coach on occasion and I feel as though I really helped these boys learn rugby through my refereeing.

This tournament did not determine league champion, this was already won by Albany Bulldogs, but was just a tournament culmination with a tournament champion awarded. The tournament was seeded as follows:

1. Albany Bulldogs v. 4. Kingston Rugby
2. Berkshire v. 3. Southern Tier (Binghamton)

The bottom three sides played a round robin: Schenectady, Saratoga, and Rensselaer

Now to my games:

Schenectady 19 -15 Saratoga

I refereed Schenectady three times in total this season, and this game was by far their best. They finally got their 8 man back...he got injured by GLASS on the field at one of the first practices. Oh boy was this kid a bruising ball carrier....everytime he got his hand on the ball Schenectady got on the front foot. This whole team fed off this go forward ball holding on for the win at the end of the game.

Kingston 20 - 22 Albany

This was the 1 v 4 semifinal. This game came down to the wire with Albany scoring a try and conversion on full time for the win. I'm not going to lie, but during the game, I really enjoyed Kingston's style of game. They had a bit more size than Albany (who had A LOT more pace), and used their size to great effect. Taking advantage of the law changes (no maul collapses) Kingston murdered Albany in the set piece. It seemed every line out would get them great go forward ball as they won clean and got a good mauling drive. It also seemed, despite my best management and communication, that Albany could never find the offside line at the maul...seeing Kingston win a number of penalties...kicks to touch..and lineouts. It was a good Second Rows style of game (me, haha).

At any rate, the Kingston smash mouth kind of game eventually wore them down...their fitness showing. Albany came back at the death to win and enter the final.



Now, this was the first of a few championships this season which came down to PENALTY KICKS. I totally disagree with this tie breaker method, it is not representative of a rugby team..FORWARDS DO NOT TRAIN TO KICK THE BALL. It is not appropriate to determine a game winner, there must be another method. It was heinous that Cardiff Blues lost the heineken cup semi this year on kicks, it's just not fair.

Fortunately, I was not there to watch this sour penalty kick affair, as I was sent to referee the NRU U19 Girls All star championship that afternoon and sunday.