Ulster Rugby - Annual Report 2017-18

REFEREES (USRFR) It was with regret that the Society recorded the demise of its member Dermot Davey. The Society numbers at April 2018 were as follows; Active referees at one hundred and thirty two, down from one hundred and forty one, a decrease of 6%. Assessor group at thirty six from thirty nine, a decrease of 8%. Non-active membership showed no significant change at thirty three. Nine trial members were still undergoing training in various stage points at the end of March. These figures, although not discouraging in themselves, do not yield up the full picture. Referees, like players, have diverse domestic and professional requirements with demands on their time. These demands, alongside the norms of illness, injury and non rugby commitments, have seen a significant rise in the non-availability from an historic norm of 20%, to almost 40% with peaks of around 60% at choke points such as international weekends. This is a significant issue without a simple redress. It was yet again disappointing to note that nine Clubs did not have any affiliated Society referees. While this was at least an improvement on last season’s total of eleven, it clearly had an adverse effect on the ability of the Society to cover all games each week. Active measures are being reviewed to determine if these Clubs should be given the same level of support as those Clubs which support recruitment to the Society. The Society also welcomed the most recent measures supported by the Branch to fill a significant gap in the recruitment process and by the IRFU in trialling other support measure at Club level. Over the previous seasons the Society had recorded recruitment numbers to have been sufficient to maintain the correlation between available resources and requirements. Aspirational targets through to 2020 had been set to service our sport in Ulster at all levels based on the available data and anticipated trends. These have now proven to be inadequate. A failure to recruit both for the primary intake in August and subsequent intake in November, alongside a rise in the retirement, withdrawal, and temporary unavailability of members saw a number of weekends this season when every available resource was utilised. Had it not been for a number of late cancellations and postponements, the full program of games could not have been covered. A number of AIL fixtures did not have allocated Society touch judges and age grade rugby was not satisfactorily covered due to the shortage of Society referees. Sunday rugby growth had not been met with any associated rise in referee numbers available for selection on a Sunday, which has meant that several referees handled two or even three fixtures on some weekends. In March the Society formally advised the Branch that it would not be able to fulfil those elements referred to in the Branch strategic plan of 2018 around refereeing. A major concern for the Society this season was the effect of the restructuring of the professional side of the IRFU refereeing department which led to Ulster not having a dedicated Referee Development Officer. This clearly had a negative effect on the recruitment figures for August and November as well as on the general support to the Society. Over a period of seven months

the development tasks where undertaken by four separate IRFU personnel and although every effort was made to address issues it was problematic and less than ideal. It was therefore a great relief to be informed that David Wikinson had decided to return to his post as Ulster’s RDO as soon as his professional refereeing commitments for this season had been completed. A key element of the work of the operations team this year was the continued evolution of the Society’s Development Group Programme and its associated coaching structure, led by Jack Young. Twenty one USRFR Referees who showed high potential received one hundred and twelve coaching reports, either from dedicated, experienced coaches attending their games or by video analysis, a significant development tool with ten games reviewed and reported upon. This was in addition to the general assessment work that Ian Thompson and his team of assessors did with the greater pool of the membership with three hundred and sixteen assessments undertaken. During the season the Society offered three members to the IPAS system, Henry Fletcher, Robbie McGreer and the Society’s first female nominee, Grainne Crabtree. In an All Ireland context, Ulster supplied fifteen of the forty nine referees. At the other end of the spectrum, the Society endeavoured, despite struggling with resources, to cover an increased number of Youth fixtures, even reaching down to the U14s. It should be noted that to provide this commitment, it was often only possible if some referees were then prepared to cover an adult match later that day. Sunday matches, regarded by the Branch as a means of increasing participation, were embraced by a small but talented group of referees. As noted previously video analysis had been extensively deployed to assist in the development of referees and was also used to cite incidents of significant foul play. Additional monitoring hardware was deployed to benefit Society coaches of high potential match officials. On field discipline trends were broadly in line with that of last season but dissent and verbal abuse remained a major concern in that the wellbeing of referees was compromised. In order to safeguard our referees, the more serious cases of abuse require strong intervention from the Branch. However the Society was grateful for the support of the vast majority of Ulster Clubs and Schools in their efforts to educate and control their patrons. On Friday 13th April at an Ulster Rugby fixture, members of the Society supported the USRFR President’s nominated charity ‘Disability Tag Rugby’, with a match day collection event which raised over £1700.00 The President of USRFR, Shane Toolan wished to record his gratitude to the Branch and to Disability Officer Clive Gardiner for facilitating the collection. The Society is grateful to representatives Mark Orr at Branch, Rab Weir at Rugby, Teddy Hall at Clubs, Michael Cairnduff at Youth and Eamonn Whealan at Women’s Committee, and is also pleased to acknowledge the support of Stephen Elliott, Chair of Discipline, Stephen Black of the Schools Committee, John Coyle, John King, Brian McCargo, Alan Ward, Jill McCullough, Lesley McGaughey, Laura-Jane

IRFU ULSTER BRANCH ANNUAL REPORT 2017/18

24