Referees need some love

The Chairman would like to make a point about not abusing referees. I know, he stands in the Sequins corner (corner formerly known as Sequins' Corner?) and they're not exactly quiet, but he is right, damnit.

There are two reasons why he is right as I see it:

1. Giving a referee a hard time in a game that you are playing in is totally senseless and almost always counterproductive. And people who imagine that they can intimidate a referee by being constantly in their face are almost always wrong (it takes a maestro like Gregan, van der Westhuizen or Dawson to do that...) Not unreasonably, referees resent being shouted at and are unlikely to act more favourably to the team shouting at them. How many times have you seen a decision reversed because of protests?

Referees will always make mistakes and it will always be hugely annoying when they do. But, to a man, they come to each game with honest and fair intentions and they never, ever deserve to be given a load of witless verbal for human error. If it makes you angry when the referee makes a bad call, show that the game matters to you by upping the effort, not wasting your energy shouting at the poor bloke.

2. To be a little more prosaic, rugby players don't behave in that way. Banter is great and referees enjoy that, but an absolute respect for the referee and his authority lies at the core of rugby union. We have all known that from our earliest days playing the game. Rugby players should have the self-discipline and self-respect not to demean themselves by raging and whingeing at officials like kids in a playground or - dare I say it - premiership footballers. I don't like to lay it on, but the game is bigger than each of us and we will be judged by the kind of game we pass on to the next generation. OK, it's after 1am and that's a bit strong, but I'm standing by it.

Donough's request extends beyond players on the park to members of the section watching the game. Basically we need to keep the comments witty and on the right side of the line (PT can explain where this line is).

Yours in admonition
Harps

Not harping on any more

Good afternoon all. It's a beautiful day outside, the world (at least according the definition of those in the financial services industry) would appear to be staring into the abyss once again and I have found a few moments to bring the old blog up to date. It's a pleasure to reach you via the tremendously clever communication system brought into being by the efforts of club stalwart Brother Paul T. McGee. Did you know that he personally entered everyone's email addresses into the system? Well he did. "If I didn't do it, it wasn't going to happen," says the reclusive billionaire. That's the spirit.

Like an old ocean-going liner, the rugby season is beginning to get underway. However, at the last minute, the HKRFU has taken the rather odd 11th hour decision to play the knockout cup before the league season, meaning there will be no league rugby until November 8. Lord knows why, but there it is. The knockout cup will start when the league had been due to kick off on October 11.

Competitive rugby of a kind began last weekend with the Valley 15s, a competitition that really demonstrates why it is a good idea to reduce team sizes if you cut down match time. Nonetheless, rugby is rugby, and the Club boys will be disappointed to have succumbed to three successive defeats. With a growing casualty list to compound his woes, Coach Quinton Wrigley's blood pressure will be rising well before the real shooting match begins. There was better fortune for Dragons and Ice who won their divisions and claimed the club's first silverware of the season. As I understand Murray Sargant's epistle on the subject, Dragons' final came down to a draw and it had to be decided by a sprint race which 'Usain' Payne won.

On an entirely different subject, I would like to recommend H.E. Andrew Boucher's blog. He does appear to be preoccupied with one issue in particular, but his peerless style and the contributions of some other notable Scorps make this a highly entertaining read. Take a look now on
http://www.rugbyisnotbroken.blogspot.com/

Finally, I have one or two further points to make on the issue of team names, or the absence thereof. Firstly and most importantly, let's be absolutely clear that the greater good of the section is of paramount importance to everyone involved. We all want a system under which teams co-operate as much as possible and in which players play for higher and lower teams than their accustomed team when selected to do so.

But I do not believe that changing the team names is the best way to achieve this - it contributes to the appearance of 'one club' but I'm not so sure about whether it brings that reality any closer. I'm inclined to think that worthy ideal can only be fully achieved if management and the selectors are able to enforce selections by bringing meaningful penalties to bear if people disappear when they are asked to play for a team that is not their preferred one.

At the moment, I believe it is fair to say that a majority of players feel that they have lost something important to their rugby experience without having been consulted on the change. A poll on my previous posting revealed 59% against replacing team names with numbers, 25% in favour and 15% indifferent. There were 32 respondents, which shows you how few people really read the Blog. But I also suspect the majority of these were Club and Drags players. A straw poll of club stalwarts from other teams certainly suggested that there is even stronger support for team names elsewhere in the section.

I admire and support the goal behind this initiative, but I disagree profoundly with the method and, should anyone care, I will not be using the numbers myself. Nor, I suspect, will we see the Sequins' Corner being renamed "The Corner Formerly Known as the Sequins' Corner" (and I can't take credit for that one) or any talk of "Mighty" FC4. In any case, I think there has been more than enough from me on this issue and you will be relieved to hear that I am going to pipe back down and concentrate on rugby.

Harps

Knocking on Heaven's Door

Life has returned to normal. Chinese New Year's been and gone. Skiing/golfing/lying on a beach/boozing is done and dusted and we're back to rugby weekends. You know what that means. Q will wear a perpetual frown. Tim Griffin will get yellow-carded (well, he would if he was playing). The Sequins will be in their corner, sadly reflecting on how the game has changed and ordering another beer. PT McGee will shout mild comments of gentle encouragement from the stands.

And what a day it could (should) be. Club can make their Division One title safe by despatching DEA. Drags face a battle royale with Scorps, but will be crowned Division Two champions if they triumph. Should Select win heavily against Kowloon Pussies, they stay in with a shout in Division Three. Indeed, Club increasingly resembles Ancient Rome in its pomp - every continent (for that read division) fears the force of our arms. And then it's Andy Malbon's Stag, and Miss Kowloon...and Saturday night.

The stakes are high, though. Will it be veni, vidi, vici and Cluba Victa or will those damned Barbarians come and sack the Colisseum in Sports Road? Club (and I mean the 1s now) are tantalisingly close to victory, but DEA will sense the opportunity to really spoil the party. There will be no room for hubris and complacency will be fatal. The same applies to Drags. Form goes out of the window in Club Derbies. If Club and Drags want to win the Laurel Wreath and ascend into elysium as champions, then they will have to play like champions, by Jupiter. And that, I promise you, is as far as I will stretch the Roman analogy. We who are about to play salute you!

See you at the Club.
Harps

Teams below...

CBRE Club v DEA Tigers
HKFC, Saturday 16 February, 5.30pm

1. Pete Spizzirri
2. Tom Cameron
3. Nigel Hobler
4. Angus Washington
5. Steve Matthew
6. Tim Edgar
7. Jared Smith (AQ)
8. Nathan Johnson (N)

9. Peter McKee (N)
10. Pat Foreman (N)
11. Dan Parr
12. Nigel D'Acre
13. Richard Rouse
14. Andrew Chambers
15. Mike McKee (AQ)

Bench

Adam Harper
Chris Howard
Dean Finnegan
Phil Reid
James Kibble
Junior Naylor
Callum Nieto
Tim Robinson
Adam Raby (AQ)
Ed Johnson
Colin Begg (AQ)

CBRE Club Dragons v CBRE Club Scorpions
HKFC, Saturday 16 February, 4pm

1. Adam Harper
2. Duncan Robertson
3. Gary
4. Chris Howard
5. Ramsay Carter (C)
6. TBA/Andrew Corkery
7. Marcus
8. Dean Finnegan

9. Phil Reid
10. Junior Naylor / James Kibble
11. Callum Nieto
12. Robin Bredbury
13. Tibbett
14. Raby
15. Ed Johnson

Bench

Junior Naylor / James Kibble
Richard Gallagher