In this months issues, we reflect on the fantastic achievement by the referee society in not only facilitating the match officiating for the HSBC 7s World Series, but also a number of domestic and Asian regional events…
SSRUR members put on a great performance at the HSBC Sevens in Singapore.
A massive congratulations to the SSRUR members who took part in the various roles at this year’s HSBC World Series 7s. A fun filled two days of top quality rugby in which 9 SSRUR members were joined by representatives from Japan, Hong Kong and U.A.E to act as Assistant Referees on the field during the tournament. A particular congratulations to Marah Fahmy and Abdul Hannan who made their debut as Assistant Referees for the World Series tournament. Special mentions also to SSRUR President Azhar Yusof who along with London Society of Referees invitee, Gary Dibden, managed all the Assistant Referees for the weekend.
There were plenty of additional duties behind the scenes, with the much loved ‘Colonel’ Mike Taylor leading a squad of 14 Technical Zone officials in a variety of duties. While last year the focus was on the success of the on-field team, this year it was the turn of the Technical Zone staff to receive praise from the World Rugby management team. The Junior Referee Panel also got in on the action, with Stuart Wood, Cameron Archibold, Aiden Jelinek and Mary Pringle all acting as hydro technicians over the weekend.
Asia Region 7s Workshop and SEA 7s a resounding success
In addition to the ‘main event’ of the HSBC World Series, SSRUR and Singapore Rugby Union were also heavily involved in running regional training workshops and officiating in Asian region tournaments in the days leading up to the tournament in the National Stadium.
The SEA 7’s continued in it’s second year of running in the lead up to the HSBC 7s with International Men’s and Women’s teams from across South East Asia taking part. Two local referees Leow Wei Liang and Cyril Champigny were joined by Match Officials from Japan, Malaysia and U.S.A. who officiated the tournament alongside a panel of local ARs and Technical Zone officials in very wet conditions. Particular congratulations to Leow Wei Liang, (pictured left) who was appointed to referee the Women’s Final in the National Stadium as a curtain raiser for the HSBC 7’s.
Photo credit- Eric Lim
With Singapore hosting the HSBC World Series Sevens, SSRUR are heavily committed to sharing the benefits of hosting the biggest Sevens tournament in the world with the rest of Asia. In conjunction with Singapore Rugby Union, SSRUR hosted the Asia Region Sevens Workshop in the week leading up to the HSBC 7s. Participants from 7 countries, including Sri Lanka, China, Malaysia, Chinese Taipei, Brunei, Thailand and India were welcomed to Singapore to take part in a variety of practical and classroom based sessions to assist in their development as Match Officials.
The group were fortunate enough to receive input from the HSBC 7s Match Official management, Paddy O’Brien, Craig Joubert, Phil Dunne and Anthony Moyes, who shared the work that referees at the elite level put in week in week out to achieve the highest level of officiating. The participants also got to practice what they had learnt in refereeing at the Midnight 7s and ending up the week in watching the HSBC 7s in the National Stadium. Feedback from all those involved has been immensely positive as SSRUR aims to build upon the fantastic relationship between Match Officials from across Asia.
And in other news…
Congratulations to David Hope, Leow Wei Liang and Danish Putra who will be heading to Indonesia next month for the Jakarta 10s tournament.
Other overseas appointments of note…
Eunice Tay- Womens World Series Sevens Japan & Sanix World Youth Tournament.
Charlie Brown- Sanix World Youth Tournament- Japan & Asia Rugby Championship Division 1- Malaysia
Just Wang- Asia Rugby Championship Division 1- Malaysia
We wish all of our members travelling overseas the very best of luck and safe travels.
Don’t forget…
SSRUR AGM- 7p.m. Wednesday 24th May at SRU office
SSRUR End of Season Party- 7p.m. Friday 26th May at McGettigans
