Meet The Ref

Something like this;

My dad formed the mini’s section at Hornets RFC back in the 70’s when he was chairman there.  I was in that first team with only about 5 other clubs we could play at that time in and around Somerset/Bristol, so I have been involved for a long time.  He was chairman for 20 years so you could say I rather grew up there.

I was also the first player to come all the way through mini’s to the first team there, and its at Hornets that I played most of my adult rugby.  I travelled a bit so I also played in Holland, France (2 clubs), Malta and Spain (2 clubs). 

Moving back from Spain I ended up in Wokingham, and through my son coached at Bracknell for 12 years, with the odd run out for the 3’s or 4’s.  Unfortunately, I dislocated my shoulder (when making a high tackle!) and broke my wrist when scoring a try (show-boating!) so I was retired, on grounds of age and fragility.

Whilst coaching it became painfully obvious that there was a shortage of referees, so I decided to pick up the whistle officially, and whilst I always considered myself to have seen everything in every game across 40 years of playing it turns out that it’s a bit different when you actually have the whistle.

I really enjoy the games and to me, its the closest thing to playing, without getting hurt.