Blue 26- 8 Yellow

First league game of the season for me saw me travel over to a Nottingham club, to referee their 1st XV in a level 9 - Midlands 4 Game.

I have refereed this club quite a few times in the past, and they are always very welcoming and friendly, and the banter is usually good with them.
The only downside to refereeing here is that I get no seperate changing rooms, I have to get changed in the same dressing room as the home team. This is normally ok before the game, but has shall we say, encouraged discussion after the game on more than one occasion.

The game was played in a really good spirit, both teams looking for fast ball and to spread it wide as often as possible.
I had briefed both teams on what I wanted them to do at the breakdown before the game. Unfortunately the home team clearly thought I was joking, and got 2 Yellow cards for their indiscipline, and not clearing away after making the tackle, killing the ball.
As usual, the forwards were the ones heeding my warnings, and it was the full back and the winger who fell foul of my whistle.

The home team scored 4 good tries, although a couple of them were soft, and missed tackles resulted in an easy run in.

The main incident came 2 minutes from time, when the away team made a substitution, and a replacement prop came on.
A ruck formed, and he was cleaned out of the way perfectly legally by one of the home team, but for some unknown reason he took exception to this, and a little bit of pushing and shoving ensued.
He then threw what can only be described as a massive haymaker, catching the home player on the chin.
I was only 5 yards away, with a clear view.
Loud blast on the whistle, everyone stops and looks at me, apart from the prop, who just hangs his head and starts walking off.
I show a red card for the first time this season, as it was completely unprovoked, and if the punch had landed cleanly (it glanced off the player's shoulder before hitting his chin) it was intended to seriously injure.

There is no room for this in rugby, we are not thugs, we are athletes who play a contact sport, and luckily this is the exception not the rule.

The away team captain came up to me at the end of the game and apologised, and promised that they would immediately ban the player for a week, and deal with it internally, which is always a good sign that the club take this sort of thing seriously, and do not want to get a name for violent play, as some other local clubs are beginning to in some circles (referees talk to each other).

All in all, a good day out.

Tough game next week, a step up in level, and a team with a particularly "vocal" captain who has been on the recieving end of my whistle in the past.
I will report in due course.

It's been a while

Lots of things have happened since I last blogged.
I promise to resurrect this this blog and update it regularly, as I now have something to tell you all about every week.

I retired from playing rugby last year, after my son was born, and took up the whistle as a Rugby Union referee.
I now referee every weekend in the Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Derbyshire (NLD) region.
I promise to come on here and tell you about the trials and tribulations of a rugby referee from now on.

My Sister's Birthday

My sister's favourite restaurant is a lovely little Italian place, and she wanted to spend her 30th birthday with her nearest and dearest there.

The best thing is, this particular restaurant is called Da Checa, and it happens to be in the Tuscan coastal town of Torre Del Lago Puccini. So about 30 of us are off to Italy for the weekend at the beginning of March for a long weekend of Sunshine and good food.

Most of my family are going, along with a good few close friends. I can't wait, it should be fantastic, and hopefully the sun will shine all weekend.

The attached picture is the view from the restaurant, on the shore of Lake Massaciuccoli, a few minutes drive from the beautiful beaches of Torre Del Lago.

My family have been eating in that restaurant for about 40 years, always under the same owner, It is the sort of place where the owner comes out and asks "do you want meat or fish?", you never know what you are getting, so each course is a surprise, but the food is amazing.

I would definitely recommend a visit.

Loads to tell you

I must hold my hands up and admit I have been really bad at updating my blog. I apologise for this and must try harder.

I have loads of things to share with you....

John and Sian's wedding went really well, the bride looked stunning, the groom was a nervous wreck by 11am, the meal was fantastic.
My speech went down really well, what can I say? I am a comedy genius. I was really nervous before the speech, but as soon as I got the first laugh, I really enjoyed it.
We ended up going to bed about 3am, having consumed far too many bottles of everything.
The couple went away to San Francisco and New York for their honeymoon, and had a great time.

My audition for Mastermind was last Thursday, and I have no idea how it went. I had to do a 25 question general knowledge quiz, which they told me I would get about 1/2 right. I think I got about 17-18 right, but made some basic errors, especially thinking that Hepatitus is known as the kissing disease instead of Glandular Fever. I should find out in a couple of months if I have made it through.



I have started running, in an attempt to get a bit fitter. I went out for the first time last night, and managed about 1.3 miles before my lungs started burning and I started feeling feint.
I am playing rugby today, so I wont go tonight, but I will go again tomorrow night.
Hopefully I should be up to a decent distance fairly soon.

I am the Best Man!

My best mate John is marrying Sian Tomorrow at a lovely hotel in Castle Donnington.
I am the best man, and frankly, I am very nervous about my speech.
I am used to speaking in public, and have no problem getting up in front of a crowd, but there is always loads of pressure on the best man, and it is the speech that everyone looks forward to most in the day, I hope I am up to it.

John was my best man 5 years ago, and if I am honest, the speech managed to offend half of the wedding party. My wife is a Catholic from Northern Ireland, and John did a power point presentation with loads of amusing photos on it, but for the background, he used a Union Flag, and an Irish Tri colour. due to the light in the room, you could only see the Union Jack, and not all of the wedding guests appreciated this. His speech was good, even though he was nervous.

I have written my speech, and am just in the process of putting it onto crib cards to make it easier to handle.
I just don't want to let anyone down by fluffing my lines or the jokes not being appreciated.
It is really hard, as there are loads of jokes I could tell, but only a few close friends in the room will know the frames of reference, so the humour will be lost on many of the guests.

The Internet is a wonderful thing, and cut an paste is even better.

Think of me about 4pm tomorrow when I stand up and try to make everyone laugh.

Mastermind

I applied for Mastermind a few weeks ago and heard nothing, then this morning I had a phone call inviting me along to Birmingham for an Audition.
I am really nervous and need to start doing some revision on my specialist subjects.
I had to nominate 4 and they are

The West Wing.
24 Seasons 1-4
Star Wars
The Jack Reacher Novels by Lee Child.

So here is a question, if you were to go on Mastermind, what would your specialist subjects be?

Unofficial World Clay Pigeon Shooting Champion.

Guess what? I am actually quite good at clay pigeon shooting.
I did it once, as a kid, years ago, and remember really enjoying it.
We did it again on Saturday afternoon, as part of John's Stag weekend, and I only went and won the whole thing!!!
I hit 19/25 clays, winning by 1 point.

We did four different disciplines, with 6 shots at each
Coming towards us, going across us on the floor, moving away from us, and going straight over our heads.

I needed 6/6 on the last one to win, and managed a clean sweep.

I think I want to go and buy a gun now.