Refs Montage 2

Welcome to

Durham County Referees' Society

Founded in 1895

Society Training Meetings

The Society Training Meetings have been moved to the 2nd Thursday of each month. This was necessary to ensure the Durham City RFC meeting room.

The first meeting is planned of the 8th August at the usual time of 7pm for 7:30pm.

Fitness testing sessions have been arranged

The latest grading list can be found at

Grading List 46 – January 2025

Annual General Meeting.

The annual general meeting of the society saw Mark Harrington take over as Chair of the society from Alan Hughes. It also saw Adam Morrison take over as the T&D lead for the society from John Heselwood.

Both Alan and John have served the Society in various roles with distinction for a considerable period of time.

Whilst stepping down from senior committee posts, they will continue to be active members of the society.

Head Injury – Important Reminder

All Match Officials should be aware that Head Injury Assessments (HIA) are NOT permitted at the Community Rugby level.

This means all games that Durham Society Referees would be appointed to.

All match officials should ensure that they understand that if a player displays one or more observable signs or symptoms of concussion they should be removed from the pitch immediately and should not be allowed to return, irrespective of any alternative opinions held by the player, their team mates, coaches or physios. RFU Head Injury information

REMEMBER…. IF IN DOUBT, SIT THEM OUT

Law Changes from 1st July

Following the changes to the laws on 1 July, and them bedding in at international levels, I wanted to ensure you had some materials as you cascade things through your own regions/unions for the new season.

Follows is a link to a deck with a few slides on each of the 3 changes. The slides contain some key messages around rationale and/or implementation, some videos and some Q&As which have cropped up already.

Please note that there are speaker notes as well for some of the slides.

https://worldrugby.box.com/v/1julylawchangesdeck

Match Official Abuse (MOA)

Match Official abuse is reported across rugby as being on the increase at all levels of the game.

The following documents hopefully should be of some help

MOA A Guide for Referees

Completing a Red Card or Match Official Abuse Report

Society Annual Dinner 2024.

The Durham County RFU Referees’ Society Annual Dinner will be held as follows:
Date: Friday 1st November
Time: 18:30
Venue: Darlington Mowden Park

Appointments.

The new Season will be upon us very soon and the pre season preparations within days!

Officials of the Society are asked to make sure their availability for August and September is up to date

Society Membership

Members are reminded that if they need any kit to contact David Sawyer who is currently offering significant discounts!

RFU Regulation 12

RRF Regulation 12 is the RFU Regulation that covers Match Officials. See RFU Regulation 12

DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service)

All referees are encouraged to ensure they have had A DBS Check. It is an essential requirement for anyone that is to be involved in officiating an Age Grade game