Wayne Barnes Talk Night 20th March 2008-03-28

Wayne had set up a projector and we all settled down to watch what we thought was an explanation into how to referee. How wrong we were. Wayne decided that he would pick on the audience and ask them to either be a referee, touch judge or TMO

First to be picked out of the audience was Simon ( Drutz ) who was given the whistle and Andy who was given the flag. Simon was told to turn his back on the screen and then Andy had to watch the footage and explain to Drutz what was happening and what his decision was. This led to a very entertaining few minutes as the touch had to try and remember what he had seen. This highlighted how much the referee has to trust the touch judge and go on his recommendation.

We also watched an example as to how the TMO ( oxford Wuss ) is used and that depending on how the referee words the question as to how it can make a difference if the try is awarded or not. Pam was given the job of deciding whether a Welsh try against Ireland was a try or not. From the first view it did look like a clear try but from another angle you could see the ball was short of the line.

You will find that if the TMO is there the referee will use the facility as Wayne did during our match against Leeds. In his words, “let someone else make the decision”, then the referee can’t get the blame.

Wayne then showed us an incident which involved Justin Marshall play acting. Wayne said that he would give a player a yellow card if he saw any case of this during a game which he was refereeing and that the supporters can play a big part in stopping this from happening more often.

There were a few more clips shown then the floor was opened up for questions to be asked.

One of the questions put to Wayne was which is harder to referee Premiership rugby or International. Wayne’s reply was that premiership was harder to ref as most of the time it is a quicker game.

We did ask the question after the night had ended with regards to Mike McDonald’s try and Wayne said that the ball had gone 4.7 – 4.9 meters therefore he gave them the benefit of the doubt.

I also asked the Wayne if he felt like giving up refereeing after the world cup and all the threats he had received from New Zealand fans. He just smiled and said that he won’t let them win.

This was one of the most enjoyable talk nights we have had at the club and has definitely made me realise how hard the man in the middle’s job is.