Streaker

Schoolgirl streaker to face consequences

On a lighter note, I think this sort of thing should be encouraged. In fact, I think every rugby match should have at least one female streaker. It's one thing I think we can all get behind. I look forward to the next Press Cup game I attend. :o)

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Referee Abuse

18-month ban disappoints rugby refs

Too bloody right it does. Once again the senior judicial panel have shown themselves to be completely gutless. A player manhandles a referee after being sent off and he gets a lousy 18 months. I say 5 years would have been more appropriate.

From talking to people around town I've heard that the Merivale Lincoln University team had to shield the referee from the player, does that sound like he didn't have any "violent intent". And this is also a player who has been suspended twice this season for off the ball shoulder charges, do we even want him in our game?

Once again, thank you gutless senior judicial panel, next time we have trouble getting enough referees for matches, I know exactly where I'll be looking.

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Referee Abuse

On-field brawl after player allegedly punches referee

I don't have an awful lot to say about this incident, it's all there in the article. I actually know Cameron, I was his coach during his first year refereeing and he's a really nice guy. It sounds to me like the players involved in this game were getting very carried away.

What I should point out is this was a division 5 club game, supposedly "social" rugby. And yet we have players niggling, taking cheap shots and eventually being sent off.

I would be very disappointed if this player didn't receive a life ban, I would also hope he is charged with assault. This is a blight on our game and should not be excused.

UPDATE: A source has just told me the player in question is currently serving a suspension handed down while playing for another club.

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Ouch! Part of preseason training appears to be niggles, stiffness and general pain. Since I've started running good distances I've noticed my body isn't entirely happy with me. I've experienced tendonitis in my Archilles tendon before and now it's back. A few years back I partially ruptured the tendon so it flares up easily. I've also gotten tendonitis in my patella tendon in the same leg. I borrowed some of my wife's voltaren (I know, naughty) which cleared it up fairly quickly. Now I get it in the posteria cruciate but only when I run.

Add to that the mother of all blisters on the instep of one foot I'm surprised I've been able to find the will to run. But I have, and I will continue to do so.

Well the Super 14 has started and that means club rugby isn't far away. With this in mind I've started serious pre-season training. I've been running on and off for a few months, but now it's time to get serious.

I've been doing a circuit that is around 4kms with my wife who is training for a duathlon and some friends. Last Wednesday I went along to referee's fitness training. It was the second session of the year, I'd deliberately missed the first one at New Brighton beach thinking it would be a beach run. It was, and I'm glad I didn't go. Wednesday night's session was a figure 8 run around Hagley Park, about 8kms. Somehow I managed to make it the whole way, although I didn't keep up with the very fit referees. 8kms in 48 minutes was pretty good. On Friday I went out again and did a double park, around 6kms, in 43 minutes. I did run with my wife for the first park and she's a bit slower than me. Now today I did a figure 8 run in 61 minutes. Apparently I've slowed down a lot.

The short term goal now is the run the City to Surf at the end of next month. It's 12kms so I'm going to have to really push myself in the next month.

4th June

Ouch! I haven't updated my blog in a couple of weeks. Why? Because I haven't been refereeing. On the 4th of June a player stepped on my foot and broke a bone in my foot. I've been in a cast for the past week and a half.

Who did it? I don't know, what phase of play? Don't know either. I just know that when I stopped play for a scrum I was aware that my foot was very sore, but there were only 3 minutes and a bit to go so I finished the game. I thought I'd just make sure to put an ice pack on it when I got home. Well when I got home and took my shoes off I said a few very bad words and decided maybe it was more than a simple bruise.

A visit to the doctor and an xray later I'm in a cast and on crutches. I'm back at the doc tomorrow and I'm so ready to get this cast off.

28th May

Two games this Saturday, one as a referee and one as a touch judge. The first game was great fun, I think I did really well. I was at all the breakdowns, ran good lines and communicated well. In fact I really had no problems, except for my tendancy to lose the ball from time to time. I think it's a positioning thing, so I'll have to work on that over the next few weeks. I certainly achieved my goal of increasing my work rate around the in goal. I had a couple of instances where I needed to be in the right spot to make the call, and I was.

The second game as a touch judge was a great game. I really enjoyed watching the action. Unfortunately I had to flag a player for stomping which resulted in a yellow card. I didn't think it was worth a yellow card, but I didn't make that decision. I was able to have a bit of a laugh with one of the players regarding what he perceived as a bad non call. I told him, "I'm not wired" meaning I didn't have any comms gear on. Shortly after when I was behind the posts he said, "Since you guys have flash uniforms I figured you were wired."

On a downside, I think I'm getting tendonitis in my achilles again, hopefully I can live with it, it's uncomfortable now, not painful. I just hope it doesn't get much worse.

25th May

Like most Wednesday today I had a school girls game. The guy in charge of rugby at school hadn't said anything to me so I assumed it was normal place at the normal time. Turned out I was wrong, fortunately there was a game there and both teams were happy for me to do the game.

It was actually a really hard game to do, not because of the running, or the slightly unpredictable school girls, but because both sides wore red and blue uniforms. One with vertical stripes, one with horizontal stripes. Suddenly figuring out who was on what team was very hard.

Overall I had a pretty good game. I know what I need to work on for Saturday, I lost sight of the ball at a couple of rucks only to have it suddenly come back on the other team's side. Almost certainly illegally, but I didn't see what happened. Plus once again I need to lift my workrate near the goal line. I got caught out of position for one try, and while I'm sure it was grounded, I should have been working harder and been much closer. I have to eliminate this from my game.

Unfortunately one player I suspect broke her ankle, she took a nasty fall and right away I knew she was hurt, and I blew play up shortly after to check on her. Luckily there were two St John's staff on hand to look after her. For some reason the girls seem to think I'm going to stop the game for anyone who stays down. Late in the second half another girl went down, half her team stopped and the other team scored a run away try. They can only blame themselves too, twice someone said, "Ref, injury" and twice I said, "we're playing on." She was nowhere near the play, and wasn't seriously hurt. Turns out it was cramp, painful I know but hardly worth stopping the game for.

I'm looking forward to this Saturday, I only have the one game to referee plus another one to touch judge but I know some parts of my game are really starting to come together and I know what I need to work on.