Contextual Refereeing

Contextual refereeing is a very important topic to understand. It is a skill you can develop, but before that, understanding its definition and the aim of it will help you on your refereeing journey.

Being involved in rugby, or even in sport generally, from either a participant standpoint (player, ref, etc) or as an observer (fan, spectator), has given us plenty of opportunity to be watching sport unfold and all of sudden a call is made that seemingly comes out of left field.

We as match officials are all guilty of making them. These calls may (or, unfortunately, not) be technically correct, but the effect that they can have on the match can be disaterous.

Guiding principles

1. Referees should blow their whistle only with good reason to.
   • There is enough in the law book, and enough chaos on the field at any given moment, that if you go hunting for penalties you will find one. This is a trap that we do not want to fall into. As you progress through your refereeing career, you will start to develop skills on determining what does and does not matter. This is sometimes referred to as “materiality”.
2. Pressure should stay on the players.
   • When you make calls that are for things that are not clear, it creates confusion. Players will start to lose whatever trust in you they have and your credibility (and any authority derived from that) will be shot. It also puts the spotlight, and pressure, on you. Take the situation where a tight technical call is made against green. The expectation then is that you stick with that standard throughout the match. If not, then you will have a tough match because you will be challeneged with things like “You called it for them!” when you don’t make that call for green, and they will have a point.
3. The referee shouldn’t be a topic of discussion after the match.
   • This one is hard but it is essential to good refereeing because you created an environment where the teams could showcase their abilities, where they trusted you to ensure a fair contest, and where they decided the outcome and not you.

Tip

Many times, refereeing the match in front of you means you do not necessarily referee the law book to the letter.

We apply laws, we do not enforce rules.

Contextual refereeing helps with these. Simply, it allows you to anticipate versus react, which makes your job so much easier. It allows you to understand the flow of the game and what that means for it.

Advantage Rugby Referees has a great presentation on the topic.