Is refereeing Juniors an advantage to a referee or not?

By Scott Rogan

Before I discuss my opinion on that, let me declare my interests here. In have been refereeing and referee coaching in Junior Rugby for a long time and I currently work appointing referees to the junior and most weekend schools competitions in Sydney.
At the peak of the season I would appoint to somewhere north of 300 games of rugby over Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So now you know where I am coming from.

Having said that, I referee coach at senior level and have a son who referees at a senior level with the N.S.W. Referees Association. The way things currently stand in Sydney with Premiership and Suburban rugby being played on a Saturday and Sydney Juniors predominantly being played on Sunday, referees can indulge themselves on both days of the weekend.

I am a big fan of referees starting out in junior rugby, learning your trade, gaining experience before moving upwards. Referees will get to a stage in their development where they will have to give away the junior game but for a good period of time it is an advantage for them to be involved. I have seen many of the current top level of referees in Sydney develop from junior ranks into Shute Shield referees and beyond.

I watched bemused one Saturday morning some years ago as a then current test referee send off an Under 10s player at a local oval for punching. This referee had refereed the night before in the then Super 12 competition. The next morning he walked to the local park and refereed this 10s game as a recovery session and he wanted to give something back to the game. He thoroughly enjoyed his time with the kids (despite the send off) and unwound a little.

Some years later another test level referee would seek appointments for Under 9s and 10s on route to Shute Shield matches on a Saturday as a relaxation and a bit of fun. Neither of these guys sought praise for what they did, nor did many of the kids or parents there know who they were, but they were thankful for the games they provided.

There is a period of time in the life of a referee where they cannot referee enough games. I am of the belief that once you are comfortable on the field and in your ability to referee, you go out and referee, referee, referee, and refereeing kids is the ideal environment. Junior rugby will provide you with so many different levels of game and experiences that will hold you in good stead later. From the low level, low skilled match where you end up coaching more than refereeing, to the testosterone filled game of 14-15s where violence is never far from the surface, to the high skilled, high paced 16s or 17s game that at times is far better quality than many lower grade Suburban games. Your refereeing and game management ability will be tested at every stage. One game you are rescuing a low skilled match, then you have your hands full controlling testosterone filled 14 year olds that have no ability to reason at all, then chase that same 14 year old 70 metres in a runaway try only to have his head spin all the way around like Linda Blair at the next breakdown and you are back to policing again.

Recently I coached a referee in a 1^st grade lower grade Sydney Suburban match. The referee is an experienced referee that has been around the block once or twice. He referees kids on Sundays. So this game, well within his ability should have been a pleasant afternoon managing 1^st v 3^rd in an open game of a pretty good standard.

Wrong!

After 1 straight red card for stomping and a yellow for a high tackle to one team in the first half, the 2^nd half got worse through no fault of the referee. The team on the wrong end of the cards self-destructed through their lack of discipline and the yellow card became a second yellow card therefore red for a leading forearm whilst in possession of the ball.

The team captain then lost the plot and was close to becoming the 3^rd yellow card for the match. The game finished with the referee having to deal with the Vice Captain with a very lopsided penalty count that he couldn’t address, despite using every management tool at his disposal with no change. I asked the referee if he could find the positives out of this game?
He was pleased as punch that despite the cards, difficulty in dealing with one of the sides the game did not degenerate into a total shambles with fighting consistently (which always threatened). He related to me a game some years ago of Under 16s that was similar in nature. He admitted to having handled that game badly and having a running street fight on his hands and having to abandon the game. He had learnt a lesson and made the right changes, about 10 years apart.

I guess the point I am getting to is this. There is no substitute for experience as a referee. We will all have bad games, make mistakes and make game changing errors. Learn your trade from the ground up, gain the experiences you need to have in games at lower levels so you don’t make the bad error at the top level where the pressure to succeed will be far more intense. Strive to succeed but don’t short change yourself the experience of failing. You will be a far better referee for it.