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FA Basic Referees Course vs RFU Rugby Referee 15 a side course

DanRicketts

DanRicketts

Well-Known Member
Level 7 Referee
So, 2 years ago i did my BRC. After 2 years of doing mainly youth and some OA games I'd become a bit bored (either the football is unchallenging or the awful language in OA makes me want to move to a desert island). While watching the rugby world cup last autumn i thought i would look into what is required for being a rugby ref.

The course is £50 and done over 2 Sundays like the BRC. HOWEVER, before you even get as far as attending you must complete 3 online assessments: rugby ready (general awareness of the game's ethos) ), the IRB Laws exam covering all 22 laws plus variations and then a concussion awareness assessment. As far as challenge goes this is much tougher than the BRC.

On the course there are 23 people from age 14 to 50+. At 32 I'm in the middle which is contrast to my BRC where i was 1 of only 2 people out of 24 over the age of 20. The rest were school or academy kids doing it for their GCSE'S etc.

There are 4 tutors: head tutor is on the RFU laws panel and mentors to Wayne Barnes (rugby world cup ref), 3 others reffing to professional standard including lady who was at world 7s and women's world cup. My BRC was a level 4 ref and a retired ref/assessor who swore a lot!

In the course we have one of the tutors assigned to us who is constantly assessing our knowledge and enthusiasm through the theory discussion and practical sessions. My memory of the BRC is "this is the question and this is the answer".

Has the BRC moved on yet? Would this kind of precourse requirement scare off most of the kids who seem to go through the course and then ref with little enthusiasm? Why aren't the experienced referees being retained to train the new ones? I think the FA has a lot to learn.
 
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Interesting points you make Dan. I'm in agreement in as much as I think most youngsters would be discouraged by an onerous pre-course requirement.
Rugby Union is very slowly becoming more like professional football in my opinion with each season that passes, but with rugby being so more complicated in terms of technicality in law - I'm not sure how things will develop.
I'm actually doing my RFU Referee Course at the end of next month. :)
 
I'd also Rugby is already very professional. The difference is that the WRU haven't lost control of the coverage and therefore the money that comes into the game. It's a much more centralised organisation.
 
Judging by the comments I have read on here, the Basic referee Course seems to vary quite a lot throughout the country.

My BRC was 4 consecutive Wednesday nights, 3 to 3 1/2 hours a night with the laws exam at the end of the final night. In addition to the RDO (who also swore a lot), the tutors were a couple of retired referees, an L4 who was going for L3 and on a couple evenings had the pleasure of Chris Powell's company, who at the time was L2. (Has ref'd at Conference level, run the line in the Championship & JPT Final).

Course was classroom based with a mixture of role play, videos and group discussions. Fortunately wasn't the oldest on the course, although a few of the older ones had no intention of ever actually refereeing.

Quite enjoyed the course and was sort of disappointed after the exam that it was finished!
 
WRU? Welsh rugby union?

I cannot remember the length of my course but it was about 8 Sunday evenings with a exam at the end.

The facilitator was a gentleman who is in his 70s and has done the line for me at national level competition. Did the trick, finished the course and we through the exam.
 
Christ I played rugby for 4/5 years without having a f***ing clue what was going on!
I knew what a forward pass, knock on and offside were, that was it!
The laws of the ruck/mauls/scrums the forwards (I assume) knew went straight over my head, looked like a free for all to my untrained eye.

Interestingly though I was aware I knew f*** all and the few times I was penalised for reasons I genuinely did not know I just accepted the ref knew the laws much better than I.
As opposed to the football player way which is: I've never seen a LOTG in my life but I've watched it on TV so I know the laws better than this guy that actually did an exam on the laws!
 
The New Referees Course has been standardised across England since the beginning of September 2015. The FA have a multi stage programme which begins with the completion of a pre-course workbook. Each session within that programme is set out on a laminated sheet by The FA. All tutors had to attend either one of the courses run by The FA and observe/attend a training session delivered by a senior tutor to ensure they had the necessary skills to deliver practical training. If they failed to attend one of these sessions or failed to demonstrate the necessary skills, they are no longer allowed to deliver training as a tutor on behalf of The FA.

A 4 session tutor led programme is the next stage for the candidates, which consists of an introductory evening followed by a full day's tuition which is 80-90% practical training. It ends with an assessment session to see if the candidates are able to apply their knowledge in a game. The next stage is a session on Fouls and misconduct and then another full day practical training. At the end of the second full day, the tutors must assess whether they believe the candidates can go out an referee a game. They must demonstrate they can identify offences, issue sanctions and manage restarts as well as move effectively around the field of play. The programme itself is made up of a number of session which can be rearranged to give a flexible timetable but adhering to the set times is key. Unlike old programmes where stuff could be dropped or moved as long as the candidates passed, this course is more rigorous than any previous courses.

If the tutors do not feel the candidate is ready at the end of their assessment session (which will only be 5-6 minutes), the candidate is not allowed to referee. If they feel the candidate is ready, then they are sent out to referee a minimum of 5 games. At this stage they have not qualified as a referee. They will be allocated a mentor however the onus is on them to make contact with the mentor and decide how post match de-brief and feedback will take place. If the mentor has time (because most of the tutors wear a number of hats within football/refereeing), they will watch the candidate at least once during their 5 games.After a period of around 3 months, they will sit an examination on the laws of the game. If they pass this exam, they will be classified as a level 7 or 8 referee dependent on their age.

I have no doubt the RFU course and examination is more demanding that is because the game is more technically demanding.
 
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