Maths Teacher, Referees at the HK Sevens

Sweet Caroline, ba, ba, ba, good times never felt so good! Well not for Secondary Mathematic Teacher, Shane Barr who refereed at Hong Kong Rugby Sevens last weekend. The Sevens, 28-30 March, were held at the new Kai Tak Stadium. Mr Barr talks about the atmosphere on the pitch and his route to becoming a referee,

After playing rugby union all of my life, and maybe even a few years too many, I tried to move into coaching, but didn’t enjoy it. I knew I could not keep playing for much longer, so I decided to stay involved in rugby by taking up refereeing and I have really enjoyed the challenge. I refereed 16 matches last weekend. The new stadium is amazing, and​ there was a real buzz down on the pitch. Particularly prior to the Hong Kong matches, and the quarter finals.

The support and noise being made was awesome – sometimes it was so loud it was hard to hear the referee communicating through our radio equipment!

I have loved rugby from a very young age, not just the challenge of playing the game on field, but the camaraderie that comes with being involved with the game off field. In terms of refereeing, I really enjoy the challenge of managing a game, knowing when to apply certain laws, and when to ignore things to keep the game flowing. It is a huge challenge to manage a game of rugby when tempers can sometimes be tested, particularly knowing that mistakes will be made at different times, both by the players and myself as the referee.