REFEREES SERIOUSLY NEEDED
Referee volunteers have been slow to come by, which is a real disappointment in the best Society in the USA.
IF YOU CAN REFEREE, LET PETE SMITH KNOW:
me@PetesWeb.com
MONDAY, May 28 on Treasure Island:
1 PM Baracus v. Teddington Antlers (London)
FRIDAY, June 1 at Crocker Amazon:
6:45 PM Fog v. Teddington Antlers
8 PM Fog v. Teddington Antlers
(One of these is men, one is women – we have not yet been informed as to the sequence.)
We remember the days when competition to referee touring sides was keen. What has happened? Can there ever be too much rugby? We can't ALL be injured.
REP SIDE RUGBY ON TREASURE ISLAND
Dana Teagarden will be refereeing the women's Grizzlies against the Midwest on Treasure Island Sunday morning, June 3, at 11 AM.
Paul Bretz will be one of the touch judges. If you would like to be the other, or simply to enjoy some great rugby on an 'off' weekend, drop on by!
JUNE 23 BANQUET
Make your plans now to attend a celebration the 30th anniversary of the NCRRS Saturday, June 23, at the Bull Valley Restaurant, 14 Canyon Lake Drive, in Port Costa.
The restaurant is located in a wonderful hidden valley, approximately 3 miles east-southeast from Crockett, just across the Carquinez strait from Benicia.
(510) 787-1135 www.bullvalleyrestaurant.com
The Society will have the entire restaurant for this occasion, and will pay for dinner for members who are active referees or coaches/evaluators. There will be four choices of entrees and house wine is included. The cost to guests and dates will be $30.
We will have the facility from 6 until 9 PM. We’ll plan on dinner at 7, with speeches and awards to follow. Formal attire is appropriate but not required.
If the conversation and camaraderie do not recognize a nine o’clock curfew, across the street is the Warehouse Cafe, boasting over 400 bottled beers from around the world & voted “one of the 50 best bars in the USA.” With a dart board, pool table, stuffed animal heads, old fashioned Wurlitzer jukebox & cast of local characters, it is a memorable place.
Please let Paul Berman know if you will be attending, and how many will be in your party. Paul will let those who contact him know what the menu options are.
pzberman@sbcglobal.net
OUR MAN IN WASHINGTON
PCRFU Chairman Frank Merrill and his wife Clarice participated in annual ceremonies at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC earlier this month. The occasion was the addition of the name of their son, Richard Allen May, to the Memorial, during National Police Week.
Frank and Clarice, being persons of faith and optimism, have turned their grief into good works.
Here is a list of heroes: a list of the peace officers who fell in the line of duty in 2006:
National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund - Facts and Figures - New Names for the Wall - 2007
In the course of the ceremonies, Frank met with the President:
“Did my best to put USA Rugby into the mainstream – at a White House meeting, I gave a jersey signed by the Men’s National Team to President Bush at the National Fallen Officers Memorial Service. It had my son's Police Badge pinned to the jersey. The President spent at least 2-3 minutes talking with me about rugby – we spoke of his love for the game and how much he treasured his days on the field while at Yale.
“I also suggested (ahem, I gave him a written schedule) that he should come to France to see our RWC team in action. He said to me, in exactly this response, "Yeah, I have to get to France to meet the new guy over there" - (Pause, where I suggested, again, coming to the RWC, where I remind him that the RWC is Sept/Oct) - and he said, "Maybe I can put that off until this fall."
”President Bush was and is a rugby man - mentioned twice about how much the game meant to him when he was in college and has extremely fond memories of playing. Still watches at times and mentioned about how well ‘our team’ (his words) did at the San Diego event (Sevens).
“We talked about the game and he asked whether Rich had played - I said no, Rich had to struggle to weigh 152 lbs. (@ 6'2") in order to make the minimum weight to get into the Marine Corps. But he was a longtime supporter of both me when I played and his brother Michael who plays at Central Washington University who liked rugby players as friends, many of them.
“The President appeared genuinely touched by me giving him the jersey. I had placed a pin of Rich's police badge on the jersey, which the President touched when I showed it to him. We talked about the game and how I had been working on building a field in Rich's honor in East Palo Alto, where Rich was a police officer and where he was killed.
“Someone next to me asked, "Why rugby?" - to which the President answered that "Healing from grief takes many forms - some heal inwardly, others heal outwardly, and it doesn't matter which form your healing takes, only that you get better and get well." Truer words have never been spoken.
“The President urged us to continue to do whatever it takes to change the world, one mind at a time. And the President felt, as I do that there is nothing disrespectful in thinking about rugby at the time of remembering my son, as he said, "I don't personally know, but I can imagine, whatever it takes to get you through one day at a time." My thoughts as well.”
THIS WEEK’S PHOTO
Frank Merrill, his wife Clarice, granddaughter Lauren, Rich’s widow Diana behind her, granddaughter Brittany, daughter Amy and President Bush.
HAIL, PELICUS!
For the Senate
Pelicus Scriptoris
