The Angry Ref - “The Only One Who Could Never Teach Me”

So far this column has mostly been used to respond to the abuse refs take from players on a week-to-week basis but how could we maintain our credibility unless we were willing to crack one of our own?  Today I plan to do just that.  Of course I plan to do it from a ref’s perspective which means none of the things players usually gripe about.  After all players know what their chief complaints are and ref’s know that player complaints are usually based on ignorance of what refs are looking at.  We refs can be a pretty understanding lot when it comes to assessing our colleague’s performance.  We take into account the ref’s experience, the type of match, the ref’s goals etc.  So it takes a special ref to really get under our skin.

Tribeca Film Festival to showcase Finish Rugby Documentary

The films for this years Tribeca Film Festival in New York city has just been announced and will include a Finish rugby documentary called Freetime Machos.  

Directed by Mika Ronkainen, the film follows two friends, Matti and Mikko, and their team (Finland’s worst amateur rugby team) as they try to end the season with just a single win.

Tickets will be going on sale shortly (more details here) and check out the trailer below.

The Angry Ref - “To the left. To the left.”

Hey coach how ya doing?  Great.  Great.  I’ll try to keep this short.   OK here’s the thing, you know how a lot of coaches tell their teams that the coaches do their work on Tuesdays and Thursdays but on Saturdays their job is done and it’s up to the players?   

Well it’s true.   You see coach in order to have an official league game we need thirty players and a ref.   But we don’t need you. So my advice is to calm down and think before you yell something at the ref. We can go on just fine without you on the sideline.  You see what I’m saying coach?  Great.   
Thanks.