This will be post #3 and will be a short enough post. The title isn't suggesting that referee's carry ninja stars or use stealth to penalise unsuspecting tag rugby players! No, this post is going to be about positioning on the field during a game if you are a tag rugby referee. I must mention the catalyst for this post. I was having a lucazade this evening with one of the teams that I had officiated over this evening and in the course of conversation the subject of where the referee should stand came up. I was warned not to mention names, so I won't but the person I was talking to plays for a tag team called Dublin Welsh. They won 27 - 7 by the way.
On to the subject at hand. I will give you my interpretation of where best to position yourself on the field when refereeing the game.
For the kick off or restart, I stand on the 10 meter line facing the attacking team kicker. I do this for two reasons; the first is to give the kicker an idea of where the 10 meter line is and therefore give him/her a marker to aim for so the ball will travel at least 10 meters. Just to note, not all pitches are marked out with white lines to indicate where the 10 meter, 5 meter, try line and half way lines are, they are only marked by flags or cones along the sideline.
The second reason is to give the receiving team a line so they know how far to stand from the kick off. Simple.
During a game, when the ball is in play I try to stand either in line or behind the defending team. The reason for this is to make sure that I am not going to get in the way of a pass or accidentally impede a player either defending or attacking. This does mean it can be harder to spot forward passes but it is better that than be the reason a pass doesn't make it to an attacker who would be then through for a try, you don't want to incur that kind of wrath.
Here is a few examples of what can happen when you get your positioning slightly off. In one game I was standing in the ground between the attacking team and the defending team. An attacking player came running along the line towards where I was standing, meanwhile a defending player was tracking across to make the tag. Invariably I ended up getting between the defender and the attacker. What did I do; well I had to call back play and award a roll ball to the attacking team at the previous tag count. This disrupts the flow of the game and aggravates the players. Another time, I was standing in the line of the attacking team and a pass was made. The ball struck me on the arm and went to ground. Again, I had to call back play and restart from the previous tag.
To finish, here is a funny anecdote from a game I was watching last year. The referee had penalised a player for some infringement. The player in question remonstrated with the referee and may have used foul or offensive language. The referee had no option and had to sin bin the player for 5 minutes. As the player was leaving the field he picked up the ball and turned to face the referee who was approx. 10 foot away from him. He kicked the ball towards the referee and in my opinion he was just giving the ball back to her; but, unfortunately for him he had too much adrenaline and the ball struck the referee forcefully on the side of the head. The referee interpreted this as an act of further defiance and produced a red card and showed it to a now incredulous looking player. All he could do was walk off completely bemused. It was not too bad as the red he received was really a second yellow and he wouldn't have suffered a major sanction be placed upon him.
Enjoy tag and remember, the tag referee ninja is always watching.
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