Another long rugby day
I couldn't find a ref for the Nomads v Barbarians U16 game yesterday so I did it myself. 80 minutes of pretty hard work. It was a pre season friendly and both sides fielded squads of thirty or so. Normally the Barbs are on the stronger teams in the competition but our boys totally outplayed them. It was more a question of a lot of really good individual performances rather than a great team performance but that's only to be expected from a group that has had only four practice sessions to date. I think this is a team with the potential to win a championship. On the way back to my car I bumped into our head referee coach. he remarked that I was looking very fit. This is ironic as I am exactly the same weight I was this time last year. I think it's entirely due to the new referee uniforms which are vastly more flattering than the previous ones.
After that game I drove back into the city for my "official" game. A 2.30 pm KO 'C' division game between Cobourg 2nds and Muddy York (Toronto's gay team). Both teams were short of players so we decided to play a shorter game. It was fairly one sided but good natured and everyone seemed to have fun so that was all good. The sadder part was that I learned that the founder of Muddy York, a former team mate of mine, died a few months ago. He had a brain tumour. I'm not sure exactly how old Dave was but he was several years younger than me. It's a bit sobering.
Lest anyone think that refereeing is an easy gig physically I can report that yesterday, despite my best efforts to stay hydrated, I lost five pounds between leaving the apartment and getting home.
After that game I drove back into the city for my "official" game. A 2.30 pm KO 'C' division game between Cobourg 2nds and Muddy York (Toronto's gay team). Both teams were short of players so we decided to play a shorter game. It was fairly one sided but good natured and everyone seemed to have fun so that was all good. The sadder part was that I learned that the founder of Muddy York, a former team mate of mine, died a few months ago. He had a brain tumour. I'm not sure exactly how old Dave was but he was several years younger than me. It's a bit sobering.
Lest anyone think that refereeing is an easy gig physically I can report that yesterday, despite my best efforts to stay hydrated, I lost five pounds between leaving the apartment and getting home.