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Summary of HBRRA T&D Night 8/3/21

Conflict – Abuse – Reporting

Conflict

In groups.

2 questions –

What is conflict?

Abuse, Threats, Physical / Verbal, Control, Clash of ideas, Disagreement, Tension.

What tools as referees do, we as referees have to avoid or de-escalate conflict?

Whistle, Cards, Time Out / Remove us from the area, Walkaway, AR’s, Captains / Coaches.

Role Play – 1 x ref who issued a YC to a player for repeated ‘Hands in the Ruck’

                     1 x player who argues the fact, “Not always him”, Ref getting it wrong, Ref hadn’t given him previous warnings. Player is Loud – Aggressive stance – In the Refs face.

Think about how you would deal with this situation.

In this role play the ref remained calm, did not raise his voice, stood his ground but was prepared to remove himself. He was confident in his decision and stood by it.

Discussion on what else the ref could have done,

Bring in the captain early. Have non-threating body language.

Abuse

In groups.

What do you consider is abuse?

Physical or verbal, threatening behavior, personally directed negative comments.

List what abuse you have received over the years. We then read these out and ask everyone to put their hand up if they have experienced this type of abuse. Physical 25% of those there. Threatening behavior 40%. Verbal abuse or swearing at ref 100%.

The new HBRRA Referee Abuse Policy was read to the group. This policy was put together by a mixed group of HBRRA referees, coaches and executive then discussed with a group from HBRU and now is all but ready to go to print.

To make this work ALL HBRRA members MUST buy into it and support it. If not, then you are making it harder for your fellow members.

(This policy will be available to members before the start of the season) (Feel free to talk to Keith at any time regarding this policy)

Report Writing

(By this stage time was getting on so this was more of a discussion session and not a practical session)

We quickly went through the reports,

Game Called Off – Must be completed if the ref stops a game early. This could be due to poor behavior, bad weather, not enough players left, serious injury and no other field available, injury to the ref and no one to take over. The reason these need to be completed is so the HBRU can decide if the game must be replayed, or the score / points stand.

Red, Yellow and Blue cards - These are self-explanatory and have not change much over the years.

Referees completing these reports must take responsibility to ensure,

1/ Correct details are on the form.

2/ The incident description is clear and precise.

3/ The Law reference is correct for Red and Yellow card reports.

Red/ Yellow card forms – Once a referee submits this form it is generated to Gary Macdonald and Keith. Keith will do a quick review of the form. If necessary, Keith will forward the form to that referees coach to review. Any amendments will be discussed with the referee and a new form submitted. (I.E., wrong law reference, bad description of event). The final submission of a report must be with Gary Mac by mid-afternoon on that Monday.          

Referee Abuse - Referee Abuse forms must be completed for any occasion that you as a referee or AR have felt abused. (discussion on what one person would consider is ‘Abuse’ as compared to what someone else would consider ‘Abuse’. People have different tolerance levels, react differently to conflict situations. Bottom line is if YOU feel it was ‘ABUSE’ then complete the form.)

Incident form – This form is for a referee to complete if they feel there was an ‘Issue’ that was not abuse but was either not in the spirit of the game (I.E. Continued negative comments from players or any persons on the sideline, Non sportsman manner by a team or individual during the game) or something negative that could escalate into a worse situation in the future (I.E. Negative harassment post game towards the ref or even a team.) It can also be used if a ref feels there is an issue with the grounds (I.E. Ground issues, ground not set up as per HBRU requirements, No ground controller present, issue with changing facilities.) By completing this form then the HBRU and Keith can follow up to ensure things are put right. If HBRU do not know about it then nothing will get done.

If a referee has any issue around completing a form – shall I / shan’t I, then drop Keith an email or TXT and he will get in contact with you to work through this.

T&D night 16th April

Link to 2021 Priorities - click here