Where the ball will be!
In The Australian newspaper on Saturday, 12 July 2003, Eddie Jones the Wallabies coach, was quoted under the headline "Fast Eddie claims slow referees ruining game” as saying,
“…you’ll see that in the last 20 minutes the referee will penalise the second offence at the tackle rather than the first because they are late arriving there.”
The issue for a number of referees is not that they are late arriving in the last 20 minutes of the game, but rather they are arriving late at the tackle, ruck or maul in the first 20 minutes, and through the whole game.
Wayne Gretsky the Canadian ice hockey ‘Don Bradman’ in an interview was asked what quality he felt separated him from other players. His reply was, "I always focused on where the puck will be".
I have titled this paper "Where the ball will be!" because for a referee not to arrive late at the tackle they need to focus on where the ball will be rather than where it is now. That is, the referee needs to develop the skill to anticipate where the play will go. The tools that are proposed in this paper are very much about developing the skills to be "Where the ball will be!"
The tackle, ruck and maul (TRM) are the most important challenge for the referee. By shear weight of numbers the TRM represent the largest single focus area for the referee in the game of Rugby.
Over recent years the coaching of referees in Australia has recognised this fact and various tools have been developed to assist referee coaches provide constructive feedback on the processes as well as the outcomes of refereeing the TRM. Building on this solid base, some further tools have been suggested to gain a complete picture of the processes being applied.
Those tools are:
Exit Analysis i.e. how and when the referee exits from set and dynamic phases of the game.
ETA Analysis i.e. how and when the referee arrives at the next breakdown.
Communication i.e. what communication the referee uses at the breakdown.
These tools combined with the current toolkit, provide the opportunity for the referee coach to diagnose problems with a referee’s performance at the TRM. They also provide the basis of a coaching pathway for the novice referee to develop their skills at the TRM.
The outcome of this toolkit is that referees will achieve a shape of game and accuracy and compliance that results in fewer penalty kicks and less errors. That is the referee will be where the ball will be. Hence they will be able to manage the play effectively to achieve greater continuity and enjoyment by players, spectators and most importantly the referee themselves.
Rick Watsford
Level III Referee Coach
August 2005
