1. Managing Players Positively Positive Behaviour Management and Rugby Refereeing

2. Be positive, not negative- Class is waiting outside to come into room, teacher walks up and down ‘There is to be no talking and I don’t want to see anyone out of their seat’ better to say ‘I need everyone to be quiet and to remain in their seats for the whole lesson’.
Tell players what you want them to do, not what you don’t want them to do
“I don’t want to see the props binding on the arm”
“I want to see the props binding on the back or side of the shirt”

3. Use “I want…” “I need…”- I need you to listen carefully to me’.
“I want a clear metre gap in the line and lifting when the ball leaves the scrum-half’s hands”
“I need you to calm down and tell your players that the next penalty may result in a yellow card”

4. Don’t say please- it gives the player an option, say thank you or thanks instead
“2 metres back please”
“2 metres back, thanks”

5. Always be seen to punish and listen, even if you don’t- Child throws something in class ‘see me at the end of the lesson’.
Player complains that he’s being barged in the line-out, you don’t think he is but you say ‘I’ll look for it’ then at next line-out issue a warning to keep the gap. He’s happy, thinks you’re listening to him and play continues.

6. Don’t stop the momentum unnecessarily- Child walks in late to the lesson, you say ‘speak to me at the end of the lesson’ rather than reprimanding them there and then as you don’t want the lesson disrupted.
Captain asks to speak to you as scrum half is preparing to put ball into scrum. You say “Next breakdown” rather than stopping play.

7. Don’t issue warnings you might not want to keep- ‘Next person that speaks will miss their breaktime’.
‘Next penalty will be a yellow card’.

8. Don’t say things you might not do- ‘I’ll have this marked for next lesson’.
‘I’ll call ruck at every breakdown so listen to me’ instead ‘make sure you keep to the breakdown laws’.
Equally, if you say something, follow it through!

9. Use steps of sanctions rather than surprising someone with a harsh sanction.
speak individually, speak to captain, speak so all players can hear, warn of more serious penalties, warn of yellow, give yellow card, etc.

10. Stay calm and don’t inflame situations- In school, I used to step in and stop fights but soon realised if you just stand back and say you won’t stop it then the fight ends instantly.
Rushing up to a fight and blowing the whistle loudly may intensify the situation.

11. Stand near to incidents to stop them developing- two students are talking and not working, move towards them and stand near them and they often stop talking and start working.
Two props are messing about, go and stand on their side but don’t say anything to them.

12. Use non-verbal signals- in class, finger to mouth for quiet, hands moving down to signal ‘sit down’ etc.
Game- push with hands to show ‘get back at ruck’; player talks to you a bit too loudly- a calm down signal.

13. Don’t try to speak over the top of anyone- a kid will always win a shouting match.
Player/coach berating you loudly and not allowing you to speak.

14. Distract and don’t highlight negative behaviour- two pupils are talking instead of working, you go over and ask them what they’ve done and what they’ll be doing.
A player complains to you in an aggressive manner- you comment on how the game is going and what you expect of him.

15. You establish what you establish- if I ask for silence then let the pupils chat quietly then that is what silence to them will be If I ask for all comments to be delivered through the captain then respond to players when they speak to me then that is how the players will continue to act. If I allow players to verbally ‘wind up’ the opposition then they will continue to do that all game.

16. Reward positive play and penalise negative play

17. 1 Player kicks a pile of mud on the pitch for no reason and it flies in the air and hits you in the face. Everyone sees it and laughs. The player who kicked it is mortified and very remorseful.
2 Half time- you overhear one captain’s team talk telling his players you’re a poor ref and the players will have to referee the game themselves.
3 At half time a coach walks over to you and calmly asks to speak with you, then launches into a rant about judgement calls you’ve made.

18. 4 The red full back kicks the ball upfield
4 The red full back kicks the ball upfield. The red 10 is offside and you shout at him to stop but he keeps on running towards the ball. He has no material effect on the next play.
5 Before the game a player comes over to you and tells you the opposition number 8 is known for stamping on players.
6 A parent wanders onto the pitch and challenges you aggressively about whether you’re safe to continue refereeing the game.

19. 7 You yellow card a player and as he’s walking off you clearly hear him abusing you to anyone who will listen to him. Some of the players hear but no-one in the large crowd watching hears anything.
8 At the line out, red team is winning clean ball off their own throw every time. However blue jumpers are going early and the red coaches and red supporters are shouting at you about this.
9 In a women’s game, the full back is obviously new to the game but keeps tackling without using the arms. The opposition are winning and don’t appear to mind. You speak to her several times but she keeps tackling with her shoulder.

20. 10 An U16 game. Red score a try that will probably win them the game
10 An U16 game. Red score a try that will probably win them the game. A blue player has the ball in his hands. The red conversion kicker comes over and says chippily ‘Give us the ball mate’. The blue player throws the ball away.
11 Player asks you in your briefing if you’ll be telling them when it’s a ruck.
12 You yellow card a player and he stands on the sideline. 5 mins later he gets into a shouting match with a player on the pitch from the other team.

21. 13a. At a ruck, one of the guards is offside by about 1ft (30cm)
13a. At a ruck, one of the guards is offside by about 1ft (30cm). What do you do? b. He doesn’t get back. The ball goes the other way. What do you do? c. He doesn’t get back but the attacking player is tackled by him. What do you do? 14 The captain complains that the opposition 5 is leading with a fist, tackling too high, etc. You’ve been watching him closely and just think he’s being aggressive (legally) and they simply can’t handle it.

22. 15 Red player is isolated, tackled then releases the ball close to his body. Blue player gets hands on the ball legally but presses it into the red player’s body and doesn’t lift it up. Instead he shouts loudly ‘not releasing sir’ mins into the match you notice that down one touchline there are about 50 spectators in front of the barrier, very close to the pitch A spectator has been questioning aggressively your decisions all game. Nothing has been personal but you feel it is out of order You give a forward pass by red. The red captain tells you that it wasn’t forward.

23. 19 You give a knock on but the player keeps saying that it hit his head. 20 In a Colts game the red scrum half says sarcastically ‘nice pass’ after the blue scrum half makes a forward pass. 21 A player complains to you and has clearly been bitten. He says it was the opposition number 13 who did it. 22 Near the end of a close game the red coach makes two interchanges that may have an impact on the result. You tell him he’s only got one interchange left. He insists he has two and you then remember that it’s your mistake as you’d recorded a change earlier that didn’t happen.