A great start to a very busy period in the Singapore Rugby calendar with Premiership finals and Super Rugby games all taking place in the National Stadium. In this month’s issue, we have some fantastic news about the latest additions from SSRUR to the Asia Rugby International panels. Also, we take a look at what our referees selected to act as Assistant Referees and Technical Zone Officials for the World Series Sevens will be doing as part of their preparation for the main event, while Darroch Chua and Cyril Champigny share their experiences from the recent tournament in Bangkok.
Singapore adds 4 new appointments to the Asia Rugby Referee Panel!
The Asia Rugby Referee Selectors recently met in Japan to discuss the Referee Panels for the forthcoming year of Asia Rugby. Singapore has always been well represented on the Asia Rugby panel, with many of those selected going on to referee the highest level of rugby in Asia.
We are delighted to announce that Darroch Chua and Abdul Hannan were both approved to join the Asia Rugby C Panel (for Match Officials identified as future talent). Darroch and Hannan become the latest two additions with Charlie Brown (A Panel), Eunice Tay (A Panel- Womens) and Just Wang (B Panel) being re-appointed for the coming year.
In addition to the Referee Appointments, we are also delighted to announce that Chris Galea and George Danapal were selected as Asia Rugby Coaches of Match Officials (CMO). Chris and George have added tremendous value to the development of referees within Singapore, and join Azhar Yusof who remains as a Performance Reviewer and CMO.
We are confident that all of our Asia Rugby referees will demonstrate the growing professional attitude shown by our members, and wish them all the best of luck in their upcoming Asia Rugby appointments.
Referees report- Bangkok 10s 2017
By Cyril Champigny & Darroch Chua
We arrived in Bangkok on Friday, February 24th and checked into our hotel, where we attended a Referee meeting. We were greeted by a panel of referees coming from Thailand, England, Canada, Spain, Australia and Hong Kong. With 40+ teams playing more than 240 games – an exciting weekend of rugby awaited us!
On the first day of the tournament, we both refereed at least 6 games each (including AR). One of the highlights include officiating the CSP legends team which composed of several former internationals players from New Zealand, England, Scotland, etc. After an intensive day of running under the hot sun, a Thai massage was more than welcome!
On the second day, we were fortunate to be appointed for some cracking games. Cyril was selected to referee the Vets Plate Final – which was a great and close contest. Darroch was appointed for the Men’s Shield Final as well as AR for the Men’s Cup Final. Very good representation by SSRUR!
We would like to thank the Singapore Society of Rugby Union Referees (SSRUR), especially our Selection and Appointment Committee, for the opportunity to be part of this amazing tournament. Also, we are very grateful to our tournament Referee Manager, David Viccars, who looked after us well throughout – accommodation, food, gear & fun!
Preparations for the HSBC World Series 7s underway
SSRUR Referees preparation for the HSBC World Series Sevens in April
At the 2016 Singapore leg of the HSBC 7s, a large number of SSRUR members demonstrated a high level of competence in Assistant Refereeing (AR) and Sideline Management. The level of professionalism on show was noted by senior World Rugby officials and it was commented that it was one of the best performances by an AR team on the entire series.
With only a month to go before Singapore welcomes the International Sevens superstars, preparation is already well underway for our local referees to ensure that we are ready to host the biggest sevens rugby event in the world.
A selection of our top referees and those identified as talent for the future have been meeting on Monday evenings to ensure that our reputation remains intact in being able to perform under intense pressure at the highest level of the game. These sessions are used to not only develop the physical capabilities of our referees, but also testing their decision making under pressure, ability to communicate effectively and ensuring that they are up to date on all the latest law amendments for the World Series.
Again, we are confident that our society will continue to demonstrate the highest level of officiating at this years event, and we wish all those competing for the opportunity to don the World Rugby kit the very best of luck.
SSRUR seeking a title sponsor for the 2017-2018 season
The Referee Society are now seeking a title sponsor for the 2017-2018 rugby calendar, as we look to continue the development of our match officials, both locally and overseas.
The popularity of rugby worldwide is growing, and with the addition of the Super Rugby and HSBC Singapore 7s, the game’s exposure in Singapore is at an all time high. This season alone, SSRUR appointed referees to over 1500 domestic competitions including local and expat youth tournaments, tertiary events and adult leagues.
Please contact SRU Referee Manager Charlie Brown for further details referee@sru.org.sg
