North Midlands Next Generation of Refs
Young Match Officials are an important part of the North Midlands Referees Society, who are celebrating their centenary.
Over recent months their young refs have been enjoying both meeting and officiating with England Rugby’s professional referees.
As part of centenary celebrations at Ellesmere College late last year YMOs Ashley Symonds and Patrick Tyrell were Assistant Referees for Luke Pearce.
Says Patrick:”Being assistant referee at Ellesmere College against Wrekin College for Luke Pearce was a surreal experience which will be hard to top in my refereeing career. It was great to watch a professional do what they do best, and strange to see someone you see on the tele standing right in front of you.
“It was an amazing celebration for the Society’s centenary and I was also lucky enough to meet Sir Bill Beaumont, former England captain and Ellesmere student, which was also a surreal experience. I am honoured to have been a part of the celebration, and look forward to where refereeing will take me.”
After officiating at a Worcester Festival some of the young referees the team of three : Luke Pearce, Adam Leal and Philip Watters. At a recent Referees Society meeting they also met Christophe Ridley, who at 26 is England Rugby’s youngest professional referee. Christophe is also Young Match Official ambassador
The Referee Society started promoting training young officials in 2018 and, with clubs posting information, ran two courses specifically aimed at YMOs. These saw around 20 attending each one. They now have more than 30 in the Society, around half regularly officiating at matches.
YMO Mentors, who are experienced referees, give time to get the aspiring young referees confident and competent and among these is James Ranford, whose 15-year-old son Joe is now refereeing.
Joe, who has been refereeing for just over 12 months, says: “ I blame my Dad for getting me into it as I’ve spent many Saturdays watching him referee around the North Midlands, occasionally running touch for him. I’m glad I’ve got into it and really enjoy my games so thanks Dad!”
James who has been a referee for 10 years adds: “Joe has been coming to games with me since he was about nine or 10. I was very pleased when he said he wanted to do the YMO course and I’ve really enjoyed watching him develop over the last season or so. Joewas assistant referee in a recent police charity match I refereed, which was a great experience and I hope to be able to return the favour for him at some stage in his career.”
The Society has now appointed one mentor, Leonie Pryor, as YMO Development Director, with a place on their Board, with Nancy Wilkin-Mead becoming Training Director in charge of developing YMOs.
Paul Scott is their Sunday referee appointments secretary and helps ensure YMOs get games, which they can accept online.
Clubs and players are always grateful when they see a teenage referee arrive early, introducing him or herself to the coaches, checking studs, overseeing the coin toss and taking charge of the game.
Each one of them is making sure a properly managed game takes place and, indeed, that the sport continues to thrive thanks to this new generation of match officials.
Young people in the north midlands who would like information on becoming a referee can contact ymo@northmidsrefs.co.uk
In other areas contact matchofficials@RFU.com
