L1 Ref Courses in the Pacific Northwest

If you’ve ever been curious about referring rugby, we have several L1 ref courses in the PNW coming up soon!!

We have a courses on Saturday February 3rd in Monmouth at WOU and on February 24th in Eagle, ID, both courses run 8:30-4pm. Lunch will be provided at both courses!

To register for the course, sign up through Rugby Xplorer. Once logged in, select “Learning Center” then “Course Catalog” and select “L1 Referee Courses” and select the course location you would like to attend.

If you have questions on how to sign up, email pnrrs.vicechair@gmail.com!

Reffing is a great way to stay involved and give back to the rugby community. You can be as involved or un-involved as your schedule allows. Once you take the course, you are immediately eligible to begin refereeing games in your area. And your certificate last for LIFE!

AR Online Course Available!

After a law interpretation check with World Rugby and the inevitable last minute edits, the Assistant Referee online learning modules are live!

Access them in the RugbyX Learning Center through Rugby Xplorer (can be accessed through usa.rugby)

=> Log in (upper right hand corner)

=> Learning Center (menu on the left)

=> Course Catalog (center box)

=> USA Rugby Online Courses (scroll down to the 3rd group, after Level 1 and Level 2 Courses)

=> Level 1 Assistant Referee

=> Click "Enroll", then "Start Learning Now"

Scroll down further to find the recording from Amelia Luciano's excellent AR presentation as well as all our previous National Monthly Webinars.

These modules are best completed on a laptop/desktop. If you must use your phone, you may be prompted to download the Go Learn app; decline that and complete the course in your browser.

To receive the course for FREE, you must ENROLL by December 31st. Once you start the course, you have 25 days to complete it. You do not need to complete the course in one sitting - your progress will be saved as you go, and your expiration date will be displayed on the course thumbnail under "My Courses and Learning Plans".

Starting January 1, access to the course will cost $20.

In the January 2 National Webinar (8:30PM Eastern), we'll give more information/answer questions if needed.

Serendipitously, the topic January 2nd is "Lineouts: Pro Tips for Set Up. When to manage, when to penalize." with MLR match officials Austin Reed and Jarrod Ford returning to present.

USAR Sanctioning

The following statement was released by the Referees and Law Committee Chair, “It is the USAR position that LROs should not appoint to any unsanctioned rugby but people can, of course, make their own choices.

1) First check is to confirm both teams are indeed registered and active with USAR here: https://www.usa.rugby/membership-resources/public-rosters/

2) If unsure, you can contact per the process outlined in the FAQ Ross Young distributed to referees through the RLC committee being sanctions@usarugby.org. The document is attached to this email for reference - there are no changes.

3) In the event that is still not clear, the LRO/referee can email the match secretaries to have each side confirm they are a sanctioned team by USAR with a cc to Jonathan Atkeison (jatkeison@usa.rugby)

LROs should advise a referee that a match is unsanctioned so they can make up their mind if they want to referee it.” . We are happy to share any information we have regarding this topic, please reach out with any questions, thank you.

PNRRS opposes World Rugby's draft policy on transgender participation

The Pacific Northwest Rugby Referees Society (PNRRS) is the Local Referee Organization for Idaho, Oregon, and Washington states, USA. We urge World Rugby to reconsider the position set forth in their draft proposal to prevent transgender women from playing women’s rugby. Members of our community will be excluded if they are not allowed to play women’s rugby. We believe that rugby’s stated goal of being a sport for all means that the strictest scrutiny must be applied to any policies that would limit inclusion. The science included in the working materials that led to the draft proposal is limited, unconvincing, and does not meet the standard of evidence that should be required before excluding a class of people. We routinely allow women of vastly different strengths to compete against each other. If safety were truly the goal, and safety is truly best influenced by having people of similar sizes compete against each other, should we not separate players of all genders by age and amount of force they can generate, rather than by biological sex?

The issue was not only presented to World Rugby as being about safety, but also about maintaining the fairness of the elite game. How many transgender women are trying to play rugby at an elite level? How many transgender women are currently involved in women’s rugby at the club level? Is it fair to those women at the community level to be excluded? As a society, we’ve requested feedback from our rugby community. The loudest feedback we’ve received is from ciswomen members of our rugby community, voicing support for their transgender teammates. Even at our local elite level, the feedback we’ve received from women’s clubs is that they are uniformly opposed to the policy; they are not concerned with the prospect of competing against transwomen. 

Further, this policy discriminates against a group that historically has suffered extreme discrimination. Many of these people have found team, family, and community in the clubs in our region. Taking away these things should only be done with the most compelling evidence.  Doing so without compelling evidence is cruel and capricious. 

Finally, there are legal issues involved; what if states or countries have laws preventing discrimination against transgender people? What happens when teams from those locales travel to new locales? How are clubs to verify that someone is not trans? Does there need to be some sort of procedure in place to verify someone’s biological sex before they can play rugby? The implications of the existing policy are well known regarding these issues, but changing the policy to exclude people will mean a whole new host of issues, many of which are difficult to foresee. 

In conclusion, there are practical, scientific, and value related reasons for World Rugby to reconsider its draft policy. The policy as suggested has caused alarm to our members. Our members referee because of their love of the game and its values; our society is concerned that this policy will drive away not just players, but referees. We urge World Rugby to withdraw its draft policy and restart the policy development process to be more inclusive.  

Crusaders vs Hurricanes notes and clips

Peter Buckley produced another set of teaching notes about the Crusaders vs Hurricanes match from 7/25/2020. If you’re able to watch the full game on ESPN+ or something, then you should check out Peter’s full notes at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lcu0_iOyfHvwmPQg2L5UvoI-dn099cxb/view?usp=sharing. If you’re not able to see the full game, however, I created a few clips for you to review. It’s a great game, if you can, I recommend watching the whole thing!

https://youtu.be/atPykX8rDvg
https://youtu.be/AHxAoLcPjeA
https://youtu.be/n1SiRU-U10w
https://youtu.be/t4xgiWgm6Ps

Hurricanes vs Blues game notes

Our distinguished chair emeritus Peter Buckley approached me with a great idea a couple weeks ago - we can have virtual coaching sessions about Super Rugby games, so that we can simultaneously get our rugby fix while also working on our refereeing skills in our extended off-season. He would choose a game each week and write up discussion notes, designed to get us thinking about the game critically as a referee. I love this idea, and committed to creating video clips from a few of his notes for each match, and then posting them to the website.

The first game he chose was the Hurricanes vs Blues match from last week. This was a fun scrappy game that was close right up until the very end. The analysis offered below should get you thinking about what you would do in a similar situation, and what you could do to make the right calls in a local match. Try to make a decision first without looking at the laws, and then go to the law book. Do you still think your decision was right? Think about the positioning of the ref, and whether his positioning would work in your games, where you're unlikely to have ARs and TMO.

If you are able to watch the full game, then check out Peter’s full game notes at https://drive.google.com/file/d/11Ur1RAvwHCSTs1HZVJSpHxgxaSyG0X-U/view?usp=sharing . I have enabled comments on this document; yes, I’m aware of how comments on the internet often go, but I think we’re a boutique enough community that I’m willing to risk it, at least at first. Just please be cognizant that you’re posting to a broad forum and try to represent our community well.

If you’re not able to watch the full game, or if you just want some highlights, I’ve posted select clips here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQj0xNNnheM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjHrmTVwioU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jo5uhUXAPps 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkfysfgKg24  

I am looking forward to continuing this - I got a lot out of reading Peter’s discussion points, and I had a lot of fun making these clips. I look forward to hearing what you think of them - feel free, as always, to email me at pnrrschair@gmail.com.

Referees and Laws committee is looking for volunteers

As USA Rugby goes through its bankruptcy process, the heads of Local Referee Organizations (LROs) across the country have been meeting as an “interim committee” to try to determine the path forward for referees organizationally. You may have seen the email from a couple of weeks ago talking about how this process has been started. Below, I’m posting a message from this interim committee looking for volunteers who are interested in helping us shape the future of rugby refereeing in the USA. If you’re interested, please let me know!

The interim committee has been working hard over the past two months to craft a "Terms of Reference"(TOR) for the proposed Referee and Laws (R&L) committee that outlines its structure, election process, and general duties. The draft TOR has the following highlights: 

Mission statement:  The Referees and Laws committee is a standing committee of USA Rugby that represents the interests of Referee Organizations and Match Officials to USA Rugby and the wider USA rugby community. Its major goal is to enhance match officiating across the country by increasing cooperation and consistency between referee organizations and providing common solutions to shared interests such as match official development, performance pathways, recruitment and retention, match official training, laws interpretations, governance and administration. The R&L will ensure transparent processes that are clearly communicated to stakeholders and is committed to building a diverse and inclusive match official community that is welcoming for all, and allowing each referee to reach their potential.

Focus: The main focus of the R&L committee will be to establish and manage sub committees that will focus on problems and solutions and include the following:

  • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

  • Referee Development

  • Training and Education

  • Organization, Governance and Discipline

  • Technical Group

Membership of the sub-committees will seek to include representation from as broad a spectrum of referees as possible based on interest, location, background, etc. and will focus on diversity and inclusion. Nominations will be sought from LROs and referee groups from around the country.

A draft TOR for the new R&L is currently with your LRO administration for review.

 Questions can be directed to your LRO Chairperson or to refereeandlaws@gmail.com