As the 2016 calendar draws to a close, we can reflect on what has been a fantastic start to the season. In this month’s edition, we look back at the Dubai 7’s in which two of our young referees attended the International Invitational tournament. Also, some updates from World Rugby on the latest law interpretations and some exciting news for the new year!
Abdul Hannan and Marah Fahmy- Dubai 7’s 2016 report
First and foremost, the both of us are extremely grateful for the opportunity given to officiate at the Dubai 7s which was held from the 1st to 3rd Dec 2016. We would like to sincerely thank Singapore Rugby Union and the Referee Society for this opportunity. The tournament consisted of 15 leagues, 260 teams and 629 matches were played. It included 54 referees mainly from Bristol, London, South Africa, Namibia, Romania, Russia, New Zealand and Malaysia. IT WAS MASSIVE!
We arrived in sunny Dubai in the afternoon of 29th Nov and settled in quite quickly, collected our kit for the tournament and mingled around with the other referees. In the evening, we had a short meeting with our Referee Manager, Mr. Charlie Brown, who went through with us individually on what we wanted to achieve for the tournament.
The following day was very intensive. We were introduced to Tournament Director, the “Grumpy Stan” who gave us an orientation of the main ground. Guess the only place the referees wanted to know was where the physios would be for their quick fix every morning! Then we headed to Wellington School where we had our briefing, mainly to share with us on how to stay dehydrated and alive during the 3 gruelling days. We were split up into groups of 3 for each day of the tournament, with groups changing each day. Each group was also allocated a Referee coach. We had a short training session where we were put to game situations and required to react accordingly.
The both of us certainly did not know what to expect during the tournament as the leagues varied from Gulf Men’s Open, International Open, International Vets to U19 Men’s and Women’s. We knew that this opportunity does not often and we ensured that we worked hard, listened to our Coaches inputs, take the positives and only moving forward.
One of the key takeaways we learnt from the tournament was to always be on the “ball line” during open play and always have space between the players and us. Both us certainly picked up other pointers from the other referees and ended the tournament on a high when one of us was picked to referee the Gulf U19 Girls Finals.
Once again, thank you SSRUR for this opportunity!
Latest updates from World Rugby
Following on from last month’s article from World Rugby on a refocus on dangerous contact in the game, please click here to see the latest video released from World Rugby to ensure that player welfare is set as the top priority in the game.
Coming soon…
The new Canterbury Referee Society attire will be arriving in January 2017. There will be a society meeting to present each member with their new kit. Please check in on Facebook for updates on the date and venue for the meeting.
