Please see the following update from LSRFUR General Secretary, Peter Coulthard:
As you are no doubt aware, we have moved into Stage D of the RFU’s return to rugby plan, the result of which is that inter-club fixtures of the adapted Ready4Rugby are taking place.
As a Society, we have been approached by a number of our Member Clubs to provide officials to such fixtures and mini tournaments. The situation is changing all the time, and as a volunteer-led Society, it would be tricky for us to provide continually updating guidance and approach to supplement the Government’s ever changing guidance on the situation. However, in the attached one page document, we have set out some basic guidance and principles – designed to supplement the broader Government and RFU guidance – regarding accepting such appointments.
As a Management Committee, there are three key messages to get across:
If you want to referee any Ready4Rugby or similar fixtures, then that choice is yours to make, weighing up the current situation and your own personal circumstances. If you want to be appointed though, follow guidance from your Regions and update WTR to make yourself available.
To help determine if you are willing to referee somewhere, please do ask the Home Club what they are doing to ensure you are safe. The RFU has released a lot of guidance (links in the one page document), so clubs should be taking steps. You should satisfy yourself that those steps are adequate – and recognise that they should not be offended by you asking.
Whether you do or don’t referee Ready4Rugby games or not will have no bearing on your grading, status or future prospects in the Society. The world is a strange place at the moment – and all the Society is trying to do in appointing to these games is pair willing officials with willing players – it is no reflection on your commitment or ability more broadly.
We will be sending a survey out shortly to gauge your feelings around where we are at, and your intentions (with a similar one to our Member Clubs). Please do fill it in – we are really keen to understand where you are at and work out how we can best support you in the current times.
As always, please do reach out to me, your Regional Managers, or any of the Management Committee should you want to discuss things further.