NEW KIT FLIES INTO PELICANLAND
Tom Zanarini has the news:
The 2011 kit is in! If you are receiving a kit based on refereeing 5 assigned matches this past season and gave me your size a few months ago, then you will be kitted out in the newest fashion for the upcoming season. All of those referees will receive 2 jerseys (blue and yellow), navy shorts and navy socks by Canterbury of New Zealand. The kit will be available at the November 5 AGM meeting, so this should serve as an extra incentive to attend. Those receiving kit and not attending the AGM just may have to track me down at your own time and expense (I live next to Mill Valley Beerworks, so if you wish to track me down at home I may hold your kit hostage until after the first pint). I have 6 boxes taking up space in my tiny apartment. My wife has set a statute of limitations on how long these boxes can remain, so please attend the AGM, pick up your kit and keep my marriage happy. I also have some extras, price TBD. Anyone attending the Pacific Coast Collegiate 7's in Palo Alto on October 22-23 may get their kit at that time.
REFS NEEDED SATURDAY AND SUNDAY
We could use one more referee for a men’s college sevens at UC Davis this Sunday morning, from 9:30 until 1 PM.
We also need ARs/in-goal judges for the Pacific Coast men’s college sevens at Stanford both Saturday and Sunday. This event will run 9-5 on Saturday and 10-4 on Sunday.
DIRE NEED OCTOBER 29-30
We need thirty referees for Saturday, October 29, and five or six for October 30. At present we have five, and one of them is a visitor from Down Under.
Here’s the lineup:
- California College Sevens at St. Mary’s – this is a qualifier for the national championship. Cal vs. St. Mary’s (among others). 20 games on Saturday, 13 on Sunday.
- Baracus Tens: a fun Halloween event in San Francisco. Two pitches – needs six refs.
- Ben Quaye Memorial Tournament at UC Santa Cruz: men’s college fifteens. Needs six refs.
- Women’s Tens tournament at Stanford
- Need ARs for a Women’s Premier League game, All Blues hosting DC Furies
- UOP hosting Fog
- SFGG hosting a touring side from Australia
GAMES PLAYED
October 13:
Stanford Graduate School of Business – Seahawks Referee: Pete Smith
No report received.
October 14-15:
Fiji Day Sevens
Report by Eric Rauscher:
Not as many teams showed up as was expected, so only two games were played on Friday and only 7 teams did two pools on Saturday. Many of the teams had different "Islander" names, but suffice it to say that many of the usual suspects were there (both EPA teams, two clubs from Santa Rosa, Sacramento). Strangely SFGG didn't have a squad there. Suffice it to say that Waisale Serevi's team down from Seattle was unstoppable, eventually winning the final.
The atmosphere was like a usual 7s tourney but more so. There were about 10 food booths, music going and a volleyball and netball competition going on at the same time. The weather was perfect and it was a very enjoyable time. The only thing that would have made it better was to have more rugby.
Maybe next year.
October 15:
UOP – San Francisco State Referee: Paul Bretz
No report received.
San Jose State – Alumni Referee: James Hinkin
No report received.
October 16:
Women’s college D2 camp scrimmage Referee: Lee Salgado
No report received.
This is pretty sorry, the lack of match reports over the past few weeks. It threatens our financial viability. We bill for matches based on the games that are played, and THE ONLY WAY WE KNOW THAT A GAME WAS PLAYED IS IF WE HAVE A REPORT FROM THE REFEREE.
The minimum report consists of the score. Without that, if teams claim that a match wasn’t played, that they don’t owe us anything, we can’t refute the claims.
NON-FORWARD PASSES ILLUSTRATED
Finally – someone makes it clear:
http://www.rugbydump.com/2011/10/2204/what-is-a-forward-pass
At the end they demonstrate the situation where the passer is tackled or otherwise stopped when passing, and the pass then appears to go forward. To this should have been added the situation where the pass crosses an existing line on the field, say the 22, and those who don’t understand the game will yell out, Forward pass! It was passed on the near side and caught on the far side!
To sum up: you can only tell if a throw is forward by watching the motion of the passer’s arms, hands and wrists. If it is not thrown forward relative to his body, it will not be a forward pass NO MATTER WHICH DIRECTION IT TRAVELS.
There are three things the passer is not responsible for: the wind, the bounce of the ball, and his own forward momentum. Unless the passer is standing still and the wind is not blowing, you cannot judge a forward pass by comparing Point A to Point B (point of pass – point of catch) and seeing if Point B is closer to the opponent’s goal line. You need to see the passer’s hands at the moment of release. THAT’S ALL THAT MATTERS.
There is a current term to explain this, which your writer does not like but which is nonetheless in vogue among the cognoscenti: ‘forward catch’. That is, the pass was not forward even though it was caught ahead of where it was thrown.
Some of us have understood this for thirty-five years. The game of rugby has understood it for almost two hundred. Would that the Laws made it explicit.
BEEP TEST NOVEMBER 5
The multi-stage fitness test will be offered on November 5 on the netball court just before our society AGM.
If you have ambition as a referee, you need to take this test. If you’d like to know how to train to it, just reply and ask.
JOIN THE SOCIETY AND PAY YOUR DUES
We are only up to 34 paid-up members for 2012, and about half of those aren’t our ‘regulars’.
Time to pony up. Pay to play. Go to www.USARugby.org and sign up.
SCRUM CHANGING?
An interesting article for those who like to think about what might be. (Your scribe must admit to not being in this group. Tell us what the Law is and we’ll ref it.)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/rugby-world-cup/8834455/Fran-Cotton-Mike-Burton-and-Ray-McLoughlin-submit-paper-to-IRB-calling-for-scrummaging-law-changes.html
THIS WEEK’S PHOTO
We were in Albuquerque for the 40th annual High Desert Classic this past weekend, with Ed Todd, and Phil Akroyd refereeing the final.
Imagine that we remembered to take a photo.
HAIL, PELICUS!
For the Senate
Pelicus Scriptoris
