Munster Association Of Referees Update

Little did our members know that we would be blowing the final whistle on the 2019/2020 season in March.

Courtesy of Munster Association of Referees PRO John Adams

With not a single whistle blown in over 14 weeks the Munster Association of Referees happily welcomed the recent announcement of the IRFU National Referee Panel for the coming 2020/2021 rugby season.

(* First season on panel)

We would like to take the time to thank all our representatives on the National Panel for their time and commitment to representing our Association both nationally and internationally throughout the 2019/2020 season.

While we are extremely proud of all our members who represent us on the panel, special mention must be extended to Kevin Coffey and Tomás O’Sullivan who successfully navigated the Inter-Provincial Appointment System during the 2019/2020 season and earned promotion to the National Panel for the coming season.

Kevin began officiating with the M.A.R. in August 2016 and has made steady progress in the intervening years to reach this stage. Tomás attended his Trial Member’s course in January 2014 and his hard work over the last 6 years has been rewarded. We wish them both the best of luck in their time on the panel.

Other members who are coming off the back of a successful season are Eoghan Cross and Rob O’Sullivan. Eoghan officiated his first AIL Division 1A match this season when he oversaw the January meeting of Ballynahinch and Clontarf. He also oversaw his first international match in November 2019 when he was appointed to the U20 Rugby Europe clash between Switzerland and Poland.

Selected as the M.A.R. Emerging Referee of the Year for 2018, Eoghan has seen his hard work rewarded with promotion to the High-Performance Development Group for the coming season.

Also a member of this group, Rob was announced as the Munster Rugby Referee of the Year 2019. In the 2019/2020 season he regularly officiated AIL Division 1A and was appointed to referee in the Celtic Cup at the beginning of the season. Rob also officiated internationally when he was in the middle for the Rugby Europe meeting of Switzerland and Poland in November 2019.

We wish them well and look forward to seeing their continued progress towards the top level.

We welcome the introduction of the IRFU’s Return to Rugby Protocols and look forward to once again being involved in the game of rugby across the country when it is deemed safe to do so.

Details of our pre-season coaching course and new members courses will be announced in due course. To stay up to date with the latest news from the M.A.R. please follow us on social media where we are located on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

We can be found by searching for @munsterreferee.

If you are interested in becoming a referee please email us at munsterreferee@gmail.com or alternatively contact IRFU Refereee Development Manager (Munster) Chris Harrington at chris.harrington@irfu.ie.