February 13th, 2013 
Rob 
The re-fixed Connacht Junior League tie between Galwegians and OLBC kicked off at 3pm on Sunday in a direct clash with Ireland v England and the farcical scenario has left many in the west perplexed.
The game was played, the league is on schedule to finish on time and all is well in the world some might say.
Yet one of Connacht’s leading referees, Roy Gibson, withdrew his services from the referees association in complete frustration immediately after refereeing the game at the allotted time and many are asking how did this come to pass?
What Happened?
The Connacht Branch Competitions committee fixed the game for a default Sunday at 3pm and left it to the clubs to sort out and alternate as they often do. All Junior plate games were fixed for 2:30pm on the Sunday.
This time however, the clubs couldn’t agree, it was always going to happen at some point and thus a stand-off ensued with Branch officials insisting the game went ahead, both clubs refusing the budge and a referee assigned to the game.
Forty players and officials were involved, all missed the entire game in the Aviva, the biggest on the season’s calendar.
The Fall out
We always like to point out that the Connacht Branch is a group of amateur delegates elected by the clubs and entrusted with running the leagues on the club’s behalf.
In this case the Branch will blame both clubs for not having the common sense to compromise and sort this problem amongst themselves. Both clubs will no doubt partly blame each other but mainly throw it back on the doorstep of the delegates elected to the Connacht Branch to run the game.
Would it have eased the frustration a little if those who had played even the most minute role in the circumstances that led to a 3pm kick off (From clubs involved and the Branch) had been standing on the sideline? It surely would have.
Did it help that some of those were sitting in the stands of the Aviva instead?
Here’s the frustrating thing, after ten years in this job you can get all philosophical about scenarios like this. Each individual working on the Connacht Branch competitions committee or in the clubs at administration level is a sincere rugby enthusiast. I know them all
We can demonise those who disagree with us all we like but if you want to get satisfaction out of this particular dispute with a face to face argument with someone, you probably won’t find it. Each protagonist in the story will have some compelling elements in their arguments.
As an example you won’t find a person at Branch level saying the following…
“I don’t care about the two sets of players, I’m not worried that it ended up kicking off at 3pm I’m not bothered that one of our leading referees has quit and I’m delighted the game was played.”
If there was someone so inclined, at least we could call them out as a muppet and say, that person right there is the problem, be rid of him (or her) and all will be well.
This isn’t about individuals or even a group.
This is about trying to find out why we have a top referee withdrawing his services from the province and a whole set of players and officials from clubs and Branch are feeling extremely angry this week at what the all perceive to be a farcical situation.
It seems to all come down to a prevailing philosophy that is about grassroots rugby being run like a professional sport with no allowance for the fact that ultimately, beyond all the training, goals and dreams, playing rugby is an enjoyable and rewarding escape from the day to day world.
Getting the season finished by a set date is important but it is not more important than the ultimate goal of getting as many adults out on one of the 23 province wide pitches and involved in something that fits into the bigger picture.
It says a lot too that 40 people could be found in Galway on Sunday to get this game played, ten years ago, at least 30 of the 40 would have been in Lansdowne Road.
The disconnect between the professional game and the amateur game appears to be growing wider and scenarios like Sunday only add to that impression.
One other point, on Sunday in Castlebar the Connacht under 14 league final between Creggs and Corinthians kicked off at 2pm. Madness.
To Conclude
A perfectly administered season by any Branch (elected into office by all clubs) would find a balance between the following two extremes.
1. A laissez faire attitude where clubs are allowed to call off games on a whim and seasons are extended into mid and late spring and beyond.
or
2. A rigid non negotiable calendar that must finish as early as possible where the quicker we get competitions finished the better.
At the moment, one thing is clear, within Connacht at all grades in grassroots rugby the balance is all wrong and the rigid system is dominating.
Posted in
As a Galwegian, may I say the following. Our club did try to refix the game liaising with both OLBC and the branch. The reason was that we had numerous players unavailable through attending the international, work and other games. Last weekend we fielded U21, Senior, U19 and eventually Junior teams. A lot of players overlap all sides and we have a finite number of players. That is why we sought to move the game and offered Tuesday (last night). Our senior game was a refixed match and we had to regrade some of our regular junior players. When we were depleted we looked for an alternative. When the original Galwegians-OLBC game was postponed another match also was called off the same day in the Junior League. These teams were not forced to play last Sunday by the branch and yet Galwegians were.
When the editor writes that both sides will have compelling elements in their arguments I will await to see what compelling argument comes from our opponents. I won’t blame them for opportunism but it’s a long road….
Fantastic ref Roy Gibson and in a region where quality ref’s are very hard to come by this is an awful shame for Connacht Junior Rugby.
Great report Rob, there should be a blanket ban on any Rugby during Home Internationals (at least) like probably most countries in the world!. The Branch should ensure this does not happen again.
Oh look at the next round of fixtures clashing with the Scotland match, advertised on the Connacht website along with other fixtures in the leagues.
Heineken Junior Cup 2012/13
24/02/2013
14:30 Castlebar vs Monivea Castlebar
14:30 Galwegians vs Gort Galwegians
Junior Plate 2012/13
24/02/2013
14:30 Ballyhaunis vs Ballina TBC
Lads sort it out!!!!!!
As a player Im always delighted to see Roy togged out on match days. He is without a doubt one of the top referees in this province. Real pity to see him pack it in but can we blame him???
I dont think the 40 players and referee Roy missed a lot in the Lansdowne downpour. Would agree that Roy is the best ref in the West and maybe some other ref should have covered for him last Sunday. I hope he is back doing what he does so well soon. I dont think the branch forces too many matches to be played when a postponement is agreed among the clubs and referees association.
Also ail fixture played between old belvedere and young Munster the same time as the Wales Ireland game. Granted this was an away fixture but still surely the ail game could have been moved forward or pushed back.
The Irfu and branches need to look into scheduling of fixtures at same time as Irish internationals
If its true about Roy then that is a big shame as he is a very good referree and a sound fella aswell. We cant afford to lose someone like Roy and the branch should make every effort to get him back.
As regards the fixing of the game and the stand off between both clubs the branch should have stepped in here. The game should never have been originally fixed for 3pm. Absolute madness!!! Is the Pres of IRFU not a Connacht/Galwegians man??? When there was a standoff between both clubs should the branch administrators not have stepped in and resolved the issue. Is that not what they are there for, to administer on these matters????
sorry to hear about roy,good ref. the connacht branch are so out of touch with demestic league
95 per cent connacht senior sqaud,5 pet cent the rest.some of these guys dont even know
where ballinrobe,corrib,gort etc exist
Who are the Connacht Branch Peter ? Elected Delegates of Clubs. Volunteers for the various Committees are always welcome. It seems to me that the most vociferous critics are thosr who have never volunteered to sit on any Committee at Branch level
Any word on the plate draw yet, Shergar, when will the games be played judging by the branch site it won’t be next weekend
All plate games were fixed for sunday aswell.From what i hear tuam couldn field and gave the game to ballina due to lack of players cause of tickets bought for the international weeks earlier when no game was fixed for the weekend.Hope to see roy back a very fair ref.
Shergar, methinks you have blown your Graigueawoneen cover. Didn’t you sit on the Competitions Committee that made that extraordinary decision last week?
Correct on both counts Bluey. I dont like to hide behind a pseudonym!
How about like every other branch all junior and senior games to be fixed for a Saturday. Frees up all the lads weekend to do other stuff. Whatever about international games being missed. It kills all our social time for the weekends. In my opinion it stems from senior clubs not wanting junior games played againsy theor senior for loss of players which they cant regrade later on
Jeez give us a break, 90 times out of 100 a Junior team won’t play a senior club be it a J1 or J2 fixture outside of the Sunday fixed time.
1. In their little minds the Senior club will have better players available on the alternative fixture. If any of them bothered to read the Branch Regulations instead of spouting the 1st thing that enters their mind on this excellent site, then they would know that any players that have been re-graded by the Branch are deemed by the Branch to be J1 or J2 standard players not re-graded for the sake of it. Not all re-grades get passed.
2. In alot of instances there’s hay to be saved, ploughing to be done, turf to be brought in from the bog, cows to be milked – only joking, but very few teams apart from the J2 sides actually play outside of the Sunday time slot, no matter what requests are made to them.
3. All players want their Sunday’s free and would prefer to play Thurs/Fri or even Sat night, never mind Sat afternoon, but its up to the individual clubs to bet their delegates (if they actually know who their delegates are)to lobby the Branch to get the times changed.
I could go on about the Senior Clubs putting out more than 1 team a weekend, like the majority of the Junior Clubs who only field 1 or maybe 2 on a given weekend, but I wont.
Why don’t all ye give it a break and just get on with it. Nobody really is bothered by it….
Clubs are almost always free to agree to play a match anytime on/before the scheduled times(bar finals). More often than not they cannot agree amongst themselves and thats the problem maybe???
Junior Plate Semi – Final Draw. Matches to be played 10 / 03 / 2013.
Ballyhaunis v. Ballina.
Ballinrobe / Dunmore v. Ballinasloe.
Just to clarify a small point.
The Creggs Corinthians u14 game kicked off at 1pm
so it happens again game was fix for Saturday @7 buccks v Dunmore and now that bucks could not play they have refixed it for sunday @ 12 have they any clue ……..