Sri Lanka Rugby Referees Society (SLRSS) has invited two experienced referees from the UK to conduct a work shop with the hope of them conducting a long term program for referees in the nation.
Ed Turnill and Stephen Bills have arrived in Colombo to conduct the ten day programme. Turnill is an accomplished individual with considerable business training and management experience, with 25 years of refereeing. He has worked as a referees educator, trainer and developer in the English Rugby Union.
Stephen Bills is the regional manager of the London Society of Rugby Football Union Referees (LSRFUR) and has experience in the lower level competitions and analyzing the referees performances.
Speaking to ThePapare.com Ed Turnill said “We are looking at education for referees. Referees coach education, certainly the game has been changed a lot and the players have been faster and fitter so we are going to encourage the referees on how to do it using our twenty five years’ experience.”
Turnill further said with regard to the fitness of the referees, “I always get asked how fit do you need to be to referee? And the answer for the question isn’t the level of a bleep test or a Yo-Yo test or a VO2 max test, it’s about whether you’re fit enough to referee in the game in front of you. If you are refereeing small children or youth you have to be fit enough for that, If your refereeing the top level of rugby you have to be sufficiently fit to be able to run about, get where you need to be and make the right decisions when your lungs are burning and the brain is not working.”
Nizam Jamaldeen, President of the SLRRS spoke on the programme, saying, “I and the committee decided to bring on the referees educators to develop our local referees on a mutual understanding which was agreed to by the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU). This will benefit our local referees and we thank the SLRFU and the England Rugby Referees Society”
Moreover Jamaldeen went on to say that two Sri Lanka referees will be perform duties at the Dubai 7s later this year, garnering valuable experience.
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