Hugh Watkins raises the bar for refs
New national referee development manager excited to implement clear framework and pathway
Four months into the job and national referee development manager Hugh Watkins likes what he sees.
“There are some quality referees in Hong Kong who need a little fine-tuning and individual analysis on game management, but in the key areas I’ve found they are very switched on and keen to learn. I’m very excited,” Watkins said.
The HKRFU has a pool of seven elite referees contracted on the equivalent of a semi-professional basis. Five are involved in the union’s academy structure, which is based mainly on age and potential – the age group is 20-27.
We don’t want any mavericks out there doing their own thing
In addition, the union’s community referee manager, Matt Rodden, has identified potential referees for enrolment in a junior academy for 15- to 20-year-olds.
“What we’ve done is laid down a very clear framework and pathway for referees to progress here,” said Watkins, 50.
The Welshman believes the Hong Kong Society of Rugby Football Union Referees (HKSRFUR) is keen to take on new ideas and there is a high level of interest.
“My role now is more management and performance of the elite referees. It’s down to me to try to get the performances in refereeing improving each year in the same ways as the playing standard of the Premiership is continuously improving,” Watkins said.
One of his initiatives was to invite world-class former referee Alain Rolland of Ireland to deliver four workshops last weekend during the HKRFU National Referee Conference at Police College Aberdeen. Apart from passing on his valuable knowledge, he felt Rolland would inspire a few of the younger referees.
“That’s one of the reasons why I invited Alain. We created a programme that was referee-specific, involving four workshops covering the scrum, tackle/ruck/maul, game management and dealing with foul play/communication,” Watkins said.
“From this we will go away and formulate how we will referee the game this season as a collective. We don’t want any mavericks out there doing their own thing. There will be specifics taken away from these workshops and that’s how we’ll referee the likes of the scrum for instance, so everybody is on the same page.”
More than 100 people attended the conference, including coaches from the leading Premiership clubs – marking a first opportunity for referees and coaches to interact ahead of the season start.
HKSRFUR president Warren Needham said: “As one of the world’s top referees, Alain has a very unique perspective. So to see how he manages things and actually to see that he is human and to learn how he manages those situations when things aren’t exactly going as he would like them to was really important for us,” he said.
Needham also heralded the impact of several new faces in the HKRFU referees department, including Rodden and senior referee development manager Tim Baker.
“In terms of the structure that has been put in place, especially at performance level, Hugh is greatly helping the development process and improving the communication between the union and the society, which is now much more open and positive,” said Needham.
The society’s membership rolls include about 110 referees with the great majority being volunteers (around 80 HKSRFUR members attended the conference).
HKRFU referee development officer Patrick Kwok has been focusing on raising the number of local referees.
