ASSRL Referee's, Referee's at teh ASSRL National Championships, assrl u18's, assrl u15's

Officials at the Australian Secondary Schools Under 18 Championships, Port Macquarie - July 2006
(From left to right) Kevin Riolo (ARLRA), Frank Kitcher (NSWCRLRA), James Brown (NSWCRLRA), Jeff Hartup
(NSWCRLRA), Peter Anderson (QRLRA), Chris Butler (QRLRA), Ben Everill (NSWRLRA), David Sharp
(NSWRLRA), Nick Best (ARLRA).

NSWCHS hosted the Australian Secondary Schools’ Under 18 Rugby League Championships in Port Macquarie from Sunday 9th July to Friday 14th July, 2006.

On the Wednesday, because of sponsorship requirements, they took the four matches to be played that day to Wauchope where a very large crowd was in attendance.

The reason for this very big attendance would have been because word had spread about the truly outstanding game played on the Monday between Queensland Secondary Schools and NSWCC, one of the best games of football I have witnessed.

The publicity from all sections of the media was very supportive and PRIME showed games each
night in their News. .

As the head body, the ARLRA was responsible for liaising between the ASSRL and the various Referees’ Associations and the CRLRA was given the responsibility of hosting and co-ordinating referees.

The CRLRA Treasurer, Frank Kitcher, represented the CRLRA, whilst Nick Best and Kevin Riolo represented both the ARLRA and the CRLRA.

Chris Butler and Peter Anderson from Queensland RLRA, David Sharpe and Ben Everill from NSWRLRA, and Jeff Hartup and James Brown from NSWCRLRA were the referees chosen to officiate in these matches.

Troy artin from Group 1 R.A. was also invited to run some touches and to referee one game on the Thursday.

This enabled each of the selected referees to have some break from officiating, as well as refereeing three matches each over the week.

We also used two young referees from Group 3 R.A., Thaige Kelliher and Mitch Graham, to run touches on the Sunday, Monday and Wednesday.

This was a great learning experience for them. As was the case in Perth, all referees carried out Interchange duties.

Because of this procedure, we had less problems with trainers on the field than ever before.

All six referees acquitted themselves exceptionally well and we had an extremely difficult task in choosing the referee for the Final between Queensland and NSWCCC.

Chris Butler was selected and he performed very well.

All referees received written reports and discussed their performances with the three refereeing coaches after every match.

They also received DVD’s of their games at the end of each day.

The Australian Secondary Schools’ Rugby League also presented all referees and touch judges with ASSRL towels.

Three of the referees were guests of the CHS at the Players’ Dinner on the Monday night whilst all seven referees together with refereeing officials attended the Managers’ Dinner on the Wednesday.

We were also guests of the Group 3 Referees’ Association at a dinner on the Thursday night.

As well as Group 3 R.A. President, Tony Hardy, his wife and several other referees, Group 3 R.A. Treasurer, Kevin Rayment and his wife journeyed from Taree Old Bar for the occasion.

All visiting referees and officials were extremely grateful to Tony Hardy for his assistance over the week.

He was ably supported by CRLRA Development Officer, Wayne Wilson, who travelled to Port Macquarie from Newcastle for the week at his own expense.

Tony also drove the Queensland referees to the airport on the Saturday morning after the Championships.

The Australian Rugby League Referees’ Association paid for the motel accommodation and meals for all the referees for the week whilst the three individual Associations paid for their referees’ travel.

The ARLRA is grateful to the CRLRA for subsidising part of the Officials’ costs.

Kevin Riolo, ARLRA Director?

AUSTRALIAN SECONDARY SCHOOLS RUGBY
LEAGUE UNDER 15
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS – 26-30 JUNE 2006.
The Australian Secondary Schools’ Under 15’s Rugby League Championships were held in Perth from Sunday, 25th June to Friday, 30th June 2006.

All matches were played at Members’ Equity Stadium, a first class venue, which is used by the Perth Glory Soccer team.

The Western Australia Rugby League hosted the event, and their organization was outstanding, particularly their
CEO, Bill Nosworthy and his team of dedicated Development Officers and W.A. officials.

The ARLRA, the visiting referees and I would like to particularly thank the W.AR.L.R.A. President, Peter Watkins, for his hospitality.

The organization of the Championships was indeed matched by the ability of the eight referees who represented their Associations so capably.

Jason Higgins, Jay Farlow (NSWRA), Brenton Stenning, Tim Rutherford (QRA), Ken Weatherall, Chris Treneman (CRLRA), Aaron McRoberts (Vic.R.A.), and Greg Raftery (WARA) should all be congratulated on their displays.

Accommodation for the visiting referees at the Saville Park Suites was first class.

The referees enjoyed their stay there and a sense of belonging to a team was engendered from the first night when they were introduced to each other, received their appointments up to the Wednesday and we went to dinner together.

Congratulations to Chris Treneman on his performance in the Final where NSWCCC defeated Queensland.

For the first time in the Australian Schoolboys’ Championships, we used our eight referees as Interchange Officials.

This was so successful, that the ASSRL Executive asked could we use this feature in future Championships.

Besides getting players on to the field at the correct times, they were also able to police the trainers.

The eight referees also ran as Touch Judges for the week, which meant that they had plenty to do over the seven days. All referees received written reports and DVD’s of their matches.

Our squad trained with the Western Australia referees on a wet, cold and windy Tuesday evening and then had a B.B.Q. after. This was provided by the W.A.R.L.R.A.

Actually this was the only cold weather encountered, as the days were quite warm, with blue skies.

On the Wednesday evening we were invited to attend the Managers’ Dinner.

All our referees enjoyed the night.

Fellow Director, Martin Weekes is to be congratulated on his organization for the week.

As well as arranging our passes into the ground and lunches each day, Martin also was able to organise the Queensland bus to get us to the ground most days. Martin also ensured that the referees were wearing communications gear for all matches.

The week was an outstanding success and was an important tool in referee development, as well as exposing referees to a different first class competition.

They also received the benefit of observing referees from different areas in action and experienced a completely new environment.

Kevin Riolo ARLRA Director.