Bournville are looking for referees to take charge of home matches played by the club’s Second and Third XVs at Avery Fields.
The Second XV – Bournville Blues – have started the season well in the Midlands Reserve Leagues but a number of recent matches have been called off because of a shortage of referees.
The North Midlands Society of Rugby Football Referees has insufficient referees to cover all the matches played across the region each weekend with first XV league matches being the priority.
“We are in a frustrating situation where we have players wanting to play rugby every Saturday but we are having to postpone or cancel matches because we are told that there not enough referees to cover matches at Second and Third XV level,” said Bournville Managing Director Phil Maynard.
“The result is that we have players who would like to be pushing for first team places by impressing in the Blues going two, sometimes three, weeks without competitive rugby.
“We have managed to press gang a club member into taking charge of a couple of Blues matches but that was only a temporary solution.
“Ideally we would like a small team of referees to share the workload whether that is people who already have refereeing experience or those who are interested in becoming a match official.
“We will also help and support those who would like to go on referees’ training courses.
“There is a lot of talk about declining numbers of players in rugby. That isn’t the case at Bournville so it’s disappointing that players are missing out on regular rugby because there is a shortage of referees.”
If you can help contact Phil Maynard at: pm@averyfields.co.uk
