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Player Turned Referee Promoted to Level 8

Player Turned Referee Promoted to Level 8

Becky Naylor15 Dec 2017 - 08:52
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Congratulations to Andy Williamson, who this week has been promoted to a Level 8 referee in just over a year of hard work and determination.

Andy has been part of Ripon Rugby Club for a long time and started his rugby career in the Age Grade section. We caught up with him to find out more about this achievement.

His last game for the club was Ripon v Roundhegians in Yorkshire 2. He was going to retire at the end of the season and start refereeing in 2016/17 but after having his knee injured in a ruck, his season and rugby career was over.

Andy’s first ever game as a referee was an U16s game on a Sunday (3rd September 2016) between Ripon and Middlesborough. It was a real eye opener as he thought it would be easy to transition from player to referee, how wrong he was! At the start of his refereeing he found it difficult to get in the right position often finding players running into him! His fitness wasn’t great either and found that being rugby fit doesn’t really help being referee fit.

At the beginning of this season he worked hard on his fitness and speed (even completed the Great North Run) which has been one of the main reasons that he has progressed so quickly. With the aid of a dedicated experienced coach in Mike Ramsden, he has developed his game and has grown in both his ability and confidence.

When Andy started at the end of 2016 his goal was to reach Level 8 by the end of 2017/18. He has now reached this goal extremely early. Level 7 is the next challenge which will be an extremely hard one to achieve, but he intends to give it a go!

Andy is now qualified to referee Yorkshire 2 games, but unfortunately is not allowed to referee Ripon 1st XV matches! He still referees junior and colts games on a Sunday as well as attending training on a Thursday with the seniors.

Here’s a snapshot of the progression over the last year:

3rd Sep 16 - 1st game as ref on a Saturday was between Ripon 2 v York 3 – Promoted to Level 11 Yellow carded Nigel Brewster and Billy Burgin 

17th Sep 16 – 1st League Game – Thirsk v Garforth (Yorkshire 5)

7th Jan 17 – 1st Yorkshire 4 game – Ossett v Burley

4th Mar 17 – 19th game as ref between Burley v Rotherham Phoenix (Yorkshire 4) – Promoted to Level 10

29th Apr 17 – 1st Yorkshire 3 Game – Leeds Medics v Aireborough

30th Sep 17 – 31st game as ref between Thirsk v Knaresborough (Yorkshire 4) – Promoted to Level 9

9th Dec 17 – 39th game between Wetherby v Halifax Vandals (Yorkshire 2) – Promoted to Level 8

39 Games in total.

Furthest game North – Middlesborough 2s

Furthest game South – Stocksbridge RUFC

If you’re interested in becoming a referee then speak to Andy about his experiences and grab a place on one of the many referee courses that are being run in Yorkshire. Without a referee we don’t have a game so are a really important part of rugby.

Further reading