Some Points on Law

So, the 2012 season is well underway all across the country, in some cases we are onto week 6.  The games have been fast and furious with high level of knowledge from the players relating to the laws of tag rugby.  More so than previous years.  This makes life for us referees that much simpler.

Okay, there are a few newbies every year that look at the referee as though they had three heads after a decision has been given against them.  I'll share an example, about two weeks ago during a game, a female player on the blue team was running through and on route to score, a male player from the grey team made an attempt to tag her.  I gave a penalty against her; why?  When the male player went to tag her, she consciously, or otherwise dropped her hand to block the tag.  So much so, that she actually grabbed his hand and pushed it away.  What was curious though, was her reaction to the penalty.  First she asked what it was for, when I signaled that it was for blocking the tag, she became furious and shook her head in disgust and disbelief.  Those are the moments that you think, okay, obviously space and time don't have the same meaning for you.

Anyway, I wanted to clarify two laws in this post.  Firstly, law 3.3 "Attackers may dive to score a Try when the ball is in their possession and there is no defender within 10 meters.  The referee may at his/her discretion not award a Try where an attacker dives in order to ground the ball."

This law has been in existence since inception, however, players still believe that an attacker can never dive to score a Try.  The key to this law is "The referee may at his/her discretion not award a Try where an attacker dives in order to ground the ball."  So, my tip to players is, before kick off approach the referee and ask him/her what their interpretation of the law is, i.e what does the referee interpret as 10 meters.  Don't be hesitant to approach a referee before a game or after a game in order to clarify any law that you don't fully understand.

Another law that isn't fully understood falls under Law 6: Kicking Laws.  In Law 6 it states that "In open play the ball may only be kicked from hand and not while it is on the ground or while it is in the air, having hit the ground. Sanction: Penalty".  This happens quite frequently, it is a law that is unique (like many) to tag rugby and players get quite frustrated when penalized for infringing on this law.  Again, if players are unsure, consult the referee or venue manager prior to kick off.

Enjoy!!