Author: mikegray1

Global Law Trials

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The new Global Law Trials went live on 1st August 2021. An in-depth look at the laws and the reasons behind them is available at the following here.

Please visit the link above and familiarise yourself with the new laws. We will be taking a good look at the trials and how we are going to manage them at the Development Day at the end of the month. 

If you would like to discuss any of the laws, old or new, ahead of the pre-season matches, please get in touch with Fish, Mike Mulroy, Ian Farrell or Godfrey Bancroft and we will happily go through them with you. 

Referee Development Day

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On SUNDAY 29th AUGUST 2021 NLD Refs will be holding their first annual development day for society members and club referees. 

The event is being held at Nottingham Rugby, at Lady Bay and will run throughout the day. 

NLD Refs would like to invite all NLD club referees to join us at 1pm to take part in the afternoons sessions, finishing about 430pm.  We are delivering sessions aimed to help referees at all levels deal with the pressures and expectations of refereeing rugby union. The sessions will also look at fundamental basics of match officiating and some of those hard to understand interpretations and how to apply them. 

Over the coming seasons we will be offering training and development for all club referees with no expectation for them to accept appointments from us. This is to help grow to overall quality of match officiating across NLD and to help connect the many club officials out there, doing what can be a very lonely and hard job. 

All interested club referees should email nldsmodo@gmail.com to express their interest in joining us on Sunday 29th August 2021.

Men’s Mental Health Awareness Week

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The below content is taken from Erewash Voluntary Action Newsletter. The full newsletter can be found here.

During the past year everyone’s mental health has been challenged by the lockdowns and insecurities. Coming out of what we hope will be the worst of the pandemic, questions, concerns and anxieties remain. This Men’s Mental Health Week we should look at: how can we move forward?

The CAN DO Challenge
There are five days in the working week and there are five ways to wellbeing. The Men’s Health Forum are calling, asking and encouraging everyone to choose a different activity for wellbeing on each day of Men’s Mental Health Week. At the end of the week if you enjoyed it you can always continue with it.

Head Contact Protocol

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NLDRURS were pleased to welcome professional RFU referee Karl Dickson to talk to the society about the new head contact protocol.

To help referees return confidently to the field, the RFU have produced a number of short topical video’s supported by our Professional Referee colleagues, entitled Connected Match Officials. For further watching about the new Head Contact Protocol, here is a link to Wayne Barnes talking through the  Connected Match Officials – Head Contact Process.

Return to Play – Move to Stage D2 from 26 April

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Please see the following update from the RFU:

From Monday 26 April we will return to Stage D2 on the rugby roadmap, which includes contact fixtures with adapted laws. Please familiarise yourselves with the guidance below. A video is also available here.

Age Grade

This move to Stage D2 also applies to age grade rugby, from Monday 26 April until the end of the extended 2020-21 age grade season on Monday 31 May 2021.

From Tuesday 1 June, we move to the out-of-season period through June, July and August, when activity will follow the Summer Activity Framework. For details, see below.

Age Grade Changes
Summer Activity Guide
Summer Activity Overview
Stage D2 Age Grade Match Guidance

Upcoming Training Event: 22nd April – Mental Resilience and Ready4Rugby

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The evening is focused on mental and physical resilience, with the opportunity to hear from our guest speaker, the incredible Paralympian James Roberts.

James started out in his sporting career as a swimmer, and progressed on to other Paralympic sports, such as rowing and sitting volleyball. More recently he has begun playing wheelchair basketball for local side Rhyl Raptors. As part of his sporting career, he competed for Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing as well as competing for Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, finishing 8th in the sitting volleyball. 

Following this will be some guidance and discussion on the Ready 4 Rugby law variations, with the opportunity to ask any questions you may have as we prepare for the long awaited return to the rugby pitch. Included in this will be some useful hints on the latest “contact with the head” protocols, again including the opportunity to ask any questions you may have with these.

This is a great opportunity to enhance your knowledge of the latest law variations and is great preparation for the time we run back out onto the pitch and play our part in this great game. As a reminder, the law variations are all published here and can also be found on the RFU website.

NLDRURS Members should check their email inboxes and confirm their attendance to recieve the Zoom link. Anyone with any problems should reach out to committee@nldrefs.com. Future training events can be seen on the calendar on the NLDRURS homepage (www.nldrefs.com).

RFU Community Game Updates

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The RFU have released guidance about a gradual return to rugby, shown in the image below.

More information is available here, and NLDRURS will be issuing more guidance to referees soon. For now, referees are encouraged to reach out to local clubs and see if any refereeing will be required in training sessions and Ready4Rugby from 29th March.

Nigel Baxter

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From John Bradwell, NLDRURS President:

“I am are sad to share that Nigel Baxter has a rare form of cancer and this has resulted in him having to have a leg amputated and part of his hip. He is now at home having been in Birmingham hospital for many weeks and is now a lot more comfortable.

“If you go to Meden Vale Rugby Club, you may well meet him as he intends to go down to watch the matches when he is able and when rugby has resumed.

“I am sure many of the experienced referees who know him will be getting in contact with him by email. It’s easier for him to respond to email than answer his mobile as with all cancers they make you feel very tired at differing times of the day. It will be a boost for him to know that many of you are thinking about him and his family.”

John Bradwell – NLDRURS President