Rugby Capricornia Referee Association

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Another fantastic week of Pathways Rugby last Friday night! We are looking forward to a big night this week with everyone back from holidays.

Ballymore catchups.
Congratulations to Reagen who today took charge of the U14 boys City v Country match and to Dave who will be referee coaching at the Australian Rugby Shield later this week.

Smiles all round at Pathways last night! We are so proud of all our junior academy members, but especially our new team members who are doing an amazing job. Special shoutouts this week to Zach S, Zac N and Nate who had their first games with the whistle! Thank you to Noah and Reagen for supporting them to take this step.
Sorry to those that I didn't get in a photo, I will try to do better next week!

What an awesome start to the pathways season tonight! A huge shout out to our new ARs and to Hugh who had his first game in the middle with the whistle.

Congratulations to our Referees who took control of Grand Final games on Saturday. What a fantastic day to finish the 2023 season!
Men's Reserve Grade - Reagen McKenzie
Women's A Grade - Kourtney Watene
Men's A Grade - Dave Doherty

Photo credit: Pam Mckay, The Morning Bulletin

Hi all
Junior Referee training is definitely THURSDAY from 4:45 onwards as per picture.
(Facebook has for some reason decided that we are in the time zone of the east coast of America 🙄😆)

No rest for the Referees...
This week sees our Junior Referee training night on Thursday ready for the kick off of Pathways on Friday night!

Congratulations to our Referees appointed to Saturday's Grand Finals. We are looking forward to a fantastic day to complete the senior season. Best of luck to all teams who have made it this far.

Saturday is Rugby Day!! We are all volunteers doing our best. Let’s all ensure Country Community Rugby venues are our happy places. 👍🏉

Whether you are playing in a match or watching from the sidelines, if you engage in Match Official abuse, expect to spend time away from the game.

This weekend, please remember to respect the match officials from both inside and outside of the fence.

All welcome!

Without our referees, there is no game.

This weekend, please remember to respect the match officials from both inside and outside of the fence.

DAVE DOHERTY - LIFE MEMBER
RCRA recently announced the life membership of Dave Doherty, recognising not just his years of refereeing but also his passion in developing referees as a referee coach. It is fitting then to announce that Dave has been offered the opportunity to join the referee coaching panel for the Australian Rugby Shield competition to be held in September.
Congratulations to our newest life member.

RCRA have had the pleasure of hosting Referees and Referee coaches from throughout country Queensland for the Qld Country Championships this weekend. What a great team! Congratulations to all our team on their appointments over the weekend, their professionalism on and off the field has been a pleasure to watch.
Thank you to the Queensland Country Rugby Referees Association for all your hard work in bringing the team together.

RCRA wish RCL board member and former Colts president Jeff Ballinger a speedy recovery. Our thoughts are with Jeff and his family and the Colts Rugby community at this time.

Players keep playing because of the enjoyment they get from being on the field and it's no different for referees. Ensuring our referees have a great experience will mean that we have referees for the future.

Whether you are playing in a match or watching from the sidelines, if you engage in Match Official abuse, expect to spend time away from the game.

This weekend, please remember to respect the match officials from both inside and outside of the fence.

Any current or former referees who remember where their whistle is?

Had the opportunity to be part of the referee team for Qld Schools State Champs Girls 7’s for under 16 &18’s @ Hervey Bay last weekend.

Some very impressive girls 7’s on display!!

Got to see our local girls from Capricornia and Northern play as well

Job well done to the below referee team 👍👍

Photo - Front, L to R - Referees - Neve O’Dempsey (DDRRA), Xavier Sampson, Zander Knoetze (QRRA), Kelsey Hogg ( GCRRA)

Rear L-R - Referee Coaches - Dave Glover {RCRA) and Terry I’Connor ( QRRA)

Big weekend of rugby underway for our CQ trials. Best of luck to all players.
Thanks to The Capricornian for their financial assistance to purchase our tents etc. And of course to Bettapork, Brumby’s Allenstown, All Things Accounting and Security Shield.

What if I told you that there is an easy way to improve your game ten-fold without doing extra training - interested? Of course you are!
Learning the laws means you know exactly what you can and can't do as well as understanding the Referee's interpretation, and the easiest way to brush up on the laws is to attend REFEREE READY.
An online Referee Ready course will be held on MONDAY 01 MAY starting at 7pm. Highly recommended for all coaches, players and of course anyone interested in refereeing (always welcome).
Register via the Learning Centre (where you go to do Smart Rugby).
*Dylan doesn't know the laws, Dylan is confused, don't be like Dylan - do Referee Ready!

Our full team for today's Rockhampton District School Sport Grand Final day.
Congratulations to our on-field appointed referees:
U13 boys Bailey H***e
U13 girls Bailey H***e
U15 girls Dave Glover
U15 boys Ben Wiltshire
Open girls Dan White
Open boys Reagen McKenzie
How good to our tents and banners we bought with a grant from The Capricornian look!!

Ready to go for the Rockhampton District School Sport Grand Final Day at Rugby Park. Best of luck to all teams today and we look forward to looking after some fantastic games of rugby.
Here is our first team of the day ready to go for U13 Boys and U13 Girls 7s, Bailey, Isaac and Anthony

Congratulations Callum!

Our long-term major sponsor Bettapork are looking for staff. A great opportunity to work for a fantastic family run business.

Happy International Womens Day!!

Today, RCRA would like to acknowledge the efforts of all ladies in our great game - players, referees, coaches, support and administrators.

Special recognition to our President, Charlene McKenzie for her tireless efforts. Sometimes we forget to smell the flowers however your efforts are well noticed and appreciated.

Let’s continue to grow, acknowledge and enjoy our diverse village.

This past weekend we were happy to support RGS Rugby as they hosted the 6th annual Regional Rugby Championships. We had the pleasure of officiating some fantastic schoolboy rugby across the weekend whilst developing our refereeing group. Thank you to our referees and Referee coaches who travelled to assist.
Tristan Laurent - Referee - Central Highlands
Bailey H***e - Referee - RCRA
Clancy Blacklock - Referee - Townsville
Gary King - Referee - DDRRA
Andrew Finlay - Referee Coach - Central Highlands
Dave Glover - Referee Coach - RCRA
Reagen McKenzie - Referee - RCRA
Kourtney Watene (not pictured) - Referee - RCRA
Congratulations to Reagen McKenzie who took charge of the open boys final between RGS and Downlands.

March is Mental Health Month in Queensland Rugby and we'll be focusing on how clubs and associations can leverage the QRU In Touch Mental Health Program.

Queensland Rugby Union’s partnership with White Cloud provides access to free Tele-Mental Health support for members of the Queensland Rugby community.

Look for this poster in your club.

MORE INFO: https://whitecloudfoundation.org/our-services/telementalhealth

Best seat in the house - and we have the tickets! Get in touch today to talk about how you can start your refereeing journey.

Best seat in the house? The middle of the park 🏉 Become a referee today! Visit the website for more ⌨️

Our team of 3 at Vicky Park today for the Luke Howard Memorial Cup.
Women's game: Referee Dave Glover, AR1 Reagen McKenzie & AR2 Sam Aboud.
Men's game: Referee Reagen McKenzie, AR1 Dave Glover & AR2 Sam Aboud
Congratulations to Reagen who will be taking control of his first senior game.

SAVE THE DATE. Calling all Junior Referees, first Junior Committee meeting for 2023. You will be electing your Chair, Notetaker and Senior Representative for the year. This is your chance to give us feedback on 2022 and what you would like to see for 2023.

Our awesome team are always working hard on improving their skills and an area of focus for us is our Referee Coaching. Recently Dave Doherty attended the National Referee Coach Forum in Sydney to contribute to the development of pathways for referee coaches. This year Dave will be working with our Senior Referees and our other Referee Coaches. If you are thinking about taking up the whistle there is always support for you.

We finally got them together! Congratulations to our 2022 Senior Award Winners: Terry Moore Referee of the Year Reagen McKenzie and Referee of Reserve Grade Grand Final Ben Wiltshire.
Today saw our AGM and we extend our thanks to the 2022 committee, particularly Dave Glover who stood down as President.
Our incoming committee:
President - Charlene McKenzie
Vice-President - Joe Aboud
Treasurer - Dave Glover
Secretary - Kourtney Watene

Everyone interested in refereeing in 2023 is welcome to attend. If you can't attend in person and have not received the zoom link please email [email protected]

Our awesome Junior Academy team!

Our Junior Academy had a great afternoon at Parkhurst Mini Golf today. Congratulations to Sam Aboud, recipient of the Junior Referee Spirit of Rugby award and to all our Academy on a fantastic 2022. Thanks to Rockhampton Trophy Centre & Engraving for the trophy and medallions.