DIRECTOR OF REFEREES’ REPORT Mr. Richard Daizli
Season 2011 started with trials in March and I would like to thank all referees who officiated in those matches. Special thanks to George Elias for looking after these appointments as I was new in the role. The first round of appointments went well with no changes but that was not to last long. Most weekends there were late changes, some as late as the morning of the games. Many times the excuses were poor and those who constantly pull out are only affecting their chances of progressing. Late changes lead to frantic phone calls and spending Friday nights ensuring all games were covered. There were a number of wet weekends which led to the Junior League making changes to grounds on the morning of the games. This made it difficult to reappoint referees as some games were cancelled and others were put at odd times. In saying that, all games went as scheduled and all referees were accommodating and made my job a lot easier. There were some referees who went beyond the call of duty to help out and I would like to especially thank them. The only games we had difficulty in covering at times were the Under 14s touch lines on Saturday. There was always one touch judge in attendance but having to move referees around with the restrictions most have on Saturdays made it difficult to fully cover these games. This may need to be reviewed in 2012 to see if a better system can be put in place. We had a large number of new referees start in 2011 and hopefully they enjoyed the experience, and will be with us in 2012. A larger pool of referees leads to more competition and better performances, so hopefully we will see some of them progress through the grades. The rotation policy adopted years ago was continued in an attempt to further develop our referees. This was forced on us early in the year as one week we would have five senior games of Under 19s and A grade and the following week this would increase to 11 senior games. We made the decision to promote some referees to have more officials experienced in doing the higher grades. Teams would also have the benefit of being refereed by different officials. Most referees at all levels were given the opportunity to referee at a grade higher than they would do most weekends to gain further experience. It was pleasing that most handled the step up and will be better for the experience. Some were able to excel and remain at the 24
