Exec board for the forthcoming (2013-2014) year is:
President – Simon Smith
Allocations – Les Anderton
Treasurer – Peadar Little
We agreed that the Society would purchase extra insurance for Society members that would give coverage for anything not covered by CIPP.
Emphasis on recruitment! Any ideas most welcome.
Also: it’s helpful to remember your whistle when you’re about to kick off!
The USA Rugby’s Referee & Laws Committee has restructured the requirements to be promoted to a B Grade referee and to retain that grade.
The changes allow a more realistic pathway to be promoted to B Grade and ensure that B Grade referees maintain the expected standards.
Previously referees had to attain 3 Above Grade reports over a period of 18 months. One of the reports was required to be “out of territory. Overall it was difficult to achieve and proved to be a financial burden on referee societies. Once referees attained the B Grade, there have been no requirements in place to maintain that standard.
Bruce Carter, Chairman of the Referee & Laws Committee says, “ADD QUOTE HERE”.
A public database will be created and maintained by USA Rugby Referees that will include all B Grade referees in the USA. This database will contain Name, Area, Report Status, Certification, Fitness Results.
B Grade Promotion criteria:
1. Two (2) Reports “At Grade” on a Level 4 match, OR
2. Two (2) Reports “Above Grade” on a Level 5 match, OR
3. One(1) Report “At Grade” on a Level 4 match AND One(1) Report “Above Grade” on a Level 5 match
• Reports need to be from 2 Performance Reviewers (Territorial or National Performance Reviewers) on separate matches
• One report needs to be on a Men’s Division 1 match
• All matches need to be full 80 minute matches
• The time period to achieve the requirements is 18 months
• 1 Report “At Grade” on a Level 5 match is allowed but not a “Below Grade”.
• Promoted referees are expected to have the L2 Referee course certification, or need to successfully complete the course within the next 12 months
• Fitness requirements expected are 10.0 on the Multi Stage Fitness Test (Beep)
• Promotion to B Grade will be the responsibility of the Local Referee Organization (LRO).
Once referees have been promoted they will need to retain their B Grade, annually.
B Grade Annual criteria:
1. One (1) Report “At Grade” on a Level 4 match OR “Above Grade” on a Level 5 match
• (Video reviews are acceptable)
• Match needs to be a full 80 minute match
• One (1) Report “At Grade” on a Level 5 match is allowed but not accepted for B Grade retention
• A “Below Grade” Report on a Level 5 match results in a downgrade to C1
2. 10.0 on the Multi Stage Fitness Test (BEEP)
• L2 Referee course certification completed
• Retention of the B Grade will be the responsibility of the Local Referee Organization (LRO)
• The Referee & Laws Committee and the USA Rugby Referee Department will review the database annually to ensure that criteria are met
For referees that are injured or are out of the country for a season, a 12-month waiver form can be submitted to the Referee & Laws Committee Executive for review and approval.
Referees that are unable to retain their B Grade will be downgraded to C1. To regain the B Grade referees would need to complete the promotion criteria again.
“We congratulate the Referee & Laws Committee on this positive approach.” says High Performance Referee Manager, Richard Every. “It allows for a smoother road to promotion and most importantly, maintains higher standards for match officials throughout the country. This should benefit the game greatly.”
USA Rugby Referees have also released the structure & pathways for Referees, Referee Coaches and Referee Performance Reviewers, from local to national. This includes education criteria, reporting formats, performance expectations, promotions, recruiting and funding responsibility. The document can be viewed here.
The current Referee & Laws Committee members consist of Bruce Carter (Chairman), Charlie Haupt (Secretary), and a representative from the each Competitive
Please take the time to go to our Facebook page and vote in the poll just published
USA Rugby has some proposals for LRO – in other words, referee societies.
Ideas that are floating around fall principally into two buckets:
One, the viability of having LROs that could be Conference or SBRO-based.
Two, the ‘accreditation’ or grading of an LRO.
In reading the documents, do please remember that these are draft. For example, where you see “Arbiter”, think “Centralized scheduling system”.
USA Rugby have said (at this stage) that if this implemented, it will be done on a voluntary basis; failure to participate should not impact a Society, its members, or a region’s ability to host USA Rugby events.
I’d be happy to discuss this further at the AGM, as I believe participation in a scheme of this sort is something that should be done with the mandate of the membership.
Please let me know of any questions
Simon
The iRB site with videos of the revised sequence:
http://www.irblaws.com/index.php?domain=16&page=1&language=EN
On July 13, Richmond hosts the Richmond 7s event at Dorey Park. There will be some high quality 7s being played, so come along and enjoy. We will be following the event with the RSV AGM for 2013. Dinner will be provided at the Patrick Henry Pub in Richmond (2300 E Broad St Richmond, VA 23223; (804) 644-4242 – Google Maps). The event will begin at the conclusion of the tournament (as soon as we all hustle down there!).
We will be walking through the new scrummage engagement sequence; this isn’t a minor change this year, but one that everyone – referee, player and coach – has to be familiar with. We foresee a lot of confusion at the start of the Fall season, so please grab this opportunity to get explanations from the RSV.
It’s also your chance to raise business with the Society – be that election of officers, or the discussion of group insurance supplementary to that which we get via CIPP. We will also walk you through the current state of thinking on both the new Capital GU and the new NCR4 (Mid Atlantic Conference).
Please, make every attempt to be with us; if you have any business to add to the agenda, then let Simon sitheref2409@yahoo.com know.
FYI, read, watch, and digest. Above all, have fun this season.
Referees Society of Virginia 