Congrats to David Williams and former Leinster referee Glenn Sheridan who were promoted to the IRFU Referees Panel today.
Congrats also to Nigel Correll and Gary Conway who were given IRFU contracts.
Finally congrats to Gary Glennon and Dermot Blake who were promoted to the ‘A’ panel.
A mention for Kevin Beggs – still there at 48.
Leinster Rugby Referee Alain Rolland has been appointed to the 2013 Heineken Cup Final. Rolland of Leinster will be refereeing his second Heineken Cup final – having taken charge of the 2004 decider between London Wasps and Toulouse – and his 72nd tournament match which eclipses his compatriot Leinster Referee Alan Lewis’ old mark of 71.
Rolland has refereed seven European fixtures this season including last month’s Heineken Cup semi-final between Saracens and Toulon. His assistant referees for the 2013 final on Saturday, 18 May will be Wayne Barnes (England) and George Clancy (Ireland).
The annual dinner of the Leinster Rugby Referees is the highlight of our somewhat limited social calendar and is always a great event. This year it took place in Lansdowne FC under the shadow of the Aviva Stadium on Saturday March 23rd and was hosted by Leinster Rugby Referees President Jim Breen of Seapoint RFC. A large gathering of provincial presidents, referees, assessors guests and friends attended the evening which was organised by the Referees Administration committee under Simon Owens with an immense amount of work done by James ‘Jimbob’ Fegan. Ciaran O’Brien was M.C. for the night and ran the show brilliantly with his usual wit.
New law trials and three cheers – refereeing around the world.
This article appeared in the Glasgow Match Program
By Dan Wallace, PRO, Leinster Rugby Referees.
We have received great feedback and multiple ‘retweets’ and ‘shares’ for recent articles on law misconceptions and also our article on refereeing schools cup rugby. Many thanks for all that. If you haven’t seen the articles they are on our website at www.arlb.ie. Speaking about schools rugby we are delighted to announce the Sean Gallagher will referee the schools cup final with the assistance of Kevin Beggs and Paul Haycock, both former final referees. Best of luck to Sean – the game will be done and dusted by the time this article airs.
Tom Keating (L) and John Carvill (R) (C) Ken Sutton
Also well done to Helen O’Reilly on her first 6 Nations game when England played Italy last weekend – 9th March. Helen had an excellent game and the occasion did not seem to get to her.
Interesting to see that the IRB Pacific Rugby Cup 2013 will provide the backdrop for a revised scrum engagement trial featuring props binding on the “touch” call. The move is part of what the IRB says is its “ongoing commitment to improving issues currently associated with the scrum in elite rugby while promoting the best-possible player welfare standards.” The tournament will provide the necessary evaluation platform to address the revised sequence that is hoped will reduce the impact of the ‘hit’ while increasing overall scrum stability. The “crouch”, “touch”, “set” engagement calls currently being trialled globally are maintained within the Pacific Rugby Cup trial but in a revision to the technique of engagement, props will be expected to bind using their outside arm after the referee has called “touch” in the sequence. The front-rows will maintain the bind and the referee will then call “set” and the two packs will be permitted to engage. In this sequence, with the props bound, the “set” call is not a command to engage, but an instruction that the front-rows may come together when ready.
Peter Donnelly of St Mary’s College RFC has been elected President of the Leinster Rugby Referees for the 2013/14 Season. Peter who has been a member of the Referees since 1984 takes over from Jim Breen of Seapoint.
In his acceptance speech Peter said he was greatly humbled by the election and thanked Jim Breen for his great work over the last year. He is looking forward to getting to work and thanked the various committees and representatives for their continued hard work.
The committee elected at the Annual General Meeting can be found on their page. Full details will be updated in due course.
The main changes are as follows:
President: Peter Donnelly
Senior Vice President: Pat Carolan
Junior Vice President: Wayne Sheridan
Honorary Secretary: Pierce Fitzpatrick takes over from Tom Touhy
Former Referee: Conor Byrne takes over from David Robb
North East Rep: Graeme Douglas takes over from Mark Power
North Midlands Rep: Brendan Conroy takes over from Ronnie McCann
Annual General Meeting
to be held on Thursday 25th April 2013
at 7:30pm
in St. Marys College RFC (by kind permission).
LEINSTER RUGBY REFEREES NORTH EAST AREA AGM
TUESDAY 23rd APRIL
BOYNE RFC (BY KIND PERMISSION)
7:30PM
***FULL ATTENDANCE REQUIRED***
AGENDA
ELECTION OF NEW AREA REP
SEASON REVIEW
The annual dinner of the Leinster Rugby Referees is the highlight of our somewhat limited social calendar and is always a great event. This year it took place in Lansdowne FC under the shadow of the Aviva Stadium on Saturday March 23rd and was hosted by Leinster Rugby Referees President Jim Breen of Seapoint RFC. A large gathering of provincial presidents, referees, assessors guests and friends attended the evening which was organised by the Referees Administration committee under Simon Owens with an immense amount of work done by James ‘Jimbob’ Fegan. Ciaran O’Brien was M.C. for the night and ran the show brilliantly with his usual wit.
The administration committee put huge effort into this year’s event and made an emphasis to get more new and younger referees to attend the evening. It was a great success. This year’s guest speaker was Women’s 6 Nations Grand Slam coach Philip Doyle, who thankfully brought the trophy with him – referees love photo ops.
