Meet Jack
I firmly believe that attending Oaklands not only secured me my previous work at Saracens but also provided me with the contacts that I have today.
Name: Jack
Course: Plumbing
I first became interested in refereeing after getting injured playing rugby at Oaklands. I had already completed my first refereeing qualification at the age of 15 but didn’t do anything about it at the time. I then started refereeing to get some fitness back and realised that I enjoyed it and was actually pretty good at it.
I started off by refereeing children’s rugby at my local club for a season, refereeing a range of levels from under 13 to under 17. The next season I started refereeing for Hertfordshire Society, they fast tracked me from a level 1 referee to level 6. This meant I was refereeing London 1 Division rugby, and have since progressed to London and south east national 3 and National 2 South.
Two games stand out for me as the best I have done. Firstly, refereeing the London 1 play off final in front of a big crowd, a hugely important game, not to mention a huge amount of pressure not to make any controversial decisions! The second game is refereeing the Open 7’s Final at Sevens in the City at the Allianz Stadium, again in front of a bumper crowd.
There is more to refereeing than people first think, I have post-match reviews of my games with match observers, coaches, players and my personal coach. We look at what went well in the game and what didn’t and how we can improve. When I get home I review the weekends game on video and pick up on things that others haven’t.
My ambitions as a referee are to get onto the national panel in the short term, and hopefully progress up the leagues as far as it will take me.
There is more to refereeing than people first think, I have post-match reviews of my games with match observers, coaches, players and my personal coach.
