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DEAN'S A PROUD SCALLYWAG
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12:00 - 12 October 2006
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Anyone who regularly watches or plays rugby in North Devon will have noticed that, on occasions, the referee is wearing a different jersey to that normally worn by a member of the Devon Rugby Referees Society.This is the result of a referee exchange - a tried and tested formula where referees from different societies throughout England travel to other regions to take charge of games between teams they are not familiar with.
The aim is to improve our knowledge of the game and help the individual referee's development.
Each year two or three referees are selected by the South West Peninsula Group of Rugby Referees Societies to go to the USA.
Officials from the Devon, Cornwall and Plymouth Societies, exchange with those from the Eastern Rockies Referees Society who cover games in Colorado, Wyoming and parts of Nebraska.
So last month I set off from Heathrow with Exmouth-based ref Dan Gorfin - a member of the Devon Society - and Rob Guy from Plymouth, whose wife Roxanne also joined us and was mainly in charge of shopping.Our destination was Denver, Colorado, from where we would be based for two weeks' officiating.
On arrival we were met by Bob 'Bobo' Lenansky - a man instantly recognisable as a former second row - with hands big enough to hold two suitcases in each.
Bobo took us straight from the airport to the Eastern Rockies Society monthly laws meeting where we met our hosts and other society members.Two of their group will be making the return trip to experience rugby in the South West in November.
My host was Larry Johnson - the Eastern Rockies chairman - who visited England as part of the same exchange a few years ago.
A picture of Larry engaging a scrum in a clash between Devon and the Navy at Ivybridge hangs proudly in his living room.
After a day or so settling in, we headed of to Laramie in Wyoming to referee the first of the two tournaments we were to officiate in.
While the league structure in the USA is quite strong, the vast distances between clubs means that full 15-a-side tournaments are quite common.
The Jackalope - apparently a breed of fierce horned rabbit - is a tournament hosted by the University of Wyoming.
With categories for women's, college and premier rugby, the action takes place over two days.
It's not just the teams who travel vast distances however. Our car journey was in excess of three hours and referees even flew in from Washington DC, New Mexico and California before making the same car trip as us.
The games ran all day from 8am but fortunately my first match didn't kick off until 9am, which at least gave me time for breakfast and a bit of a warm up.
The first game was between Boulder and Colorado University women - Boulder had taken the opportunity to put in a few rookies, and their inexperience showed.
In circumstances like that, a referee's first priority is to player safety, and I spent most of the time ensuring that no one got hurt at set scrums, rucks and mauls.
The game consisted of 20-minute halves and was played in great spirit. Going into the final minute the scores were tied at two tries each.
This created a new problem for me, because there are severe punishments for referees who have games which end in draws (generally consisting of buying and drinking large amounts of beer).
Fortunately for me, I spotted an offence directly in front of the posts by the Boulder team.
This resulted in victory for the Colorado side.
My second game was a College League game between Colorado State University and Colorado School of Mines, not a particularly challenging game which saw the Mines side run out easy 28-3 winners.
Denver is known as the Mile-High City and Laramie is higher at 7,600 feet.
Although I was warned about the altitude, after only three days my body wasn't quite used to having only 80% of the oxygen available at sea level and I soon found breathing, running and talking at the same time a bit of a challenge.
Especially as the whole of Saturday was blighted by heavy persistent and very cold rain, cold enough to take away what little breath I had.
The rest of the day was spent running touch for other referees, which didn't really make me feel much warmer.
On the Sunday I was given the great honour of refereeing the Premier final between the hosts; Wyoming and Colorado State Universities.
Fortunately the sun was out although the game didn't really warm up to the standard everyone expected.
Both sides made a number of errors that you wouldn't normally see in university rugby in the UK, but all the players were extremely fit, fast and, probably due to their American Football upbringing, didn't hold back in the tackle.
In the end the host side Wyoming were worthy winners at 21-3.
After the tournament, we headed back to Denver - this is one of the striking differences between UK and US rugby.
Most grounds have very few facilities - no clubhouse and no changing facilities - so most teams and referees arrive and leave in their playing kit, which isn't pleasant if you've got a three-hour drive home for a shower.
On the following Wednesday, we headed into the Rocky Mountains to attend the 39th Gentlemen of Aspen Rugby Club annual Ruggerfest Tournament.
On the way we stopped for a game of golf at a spectacular course - fortunately I was assured we were too high for rattlesnakes so I was quite comfortable in my usual position somewhere in the deep rough.
When we left the course it was a glorious 34 degrees, which didn't quite prepare us for the weekend weather which was to come.
Aspen is the winter playground of the rich and famous (the President of Iraq was in the next hotel to us) and the local rugby team, The Gentlemen of Aspen, have been in the recent past US champions.
Their main pitch is situated right in the middle of the town on a public park just big enough for that one pitch.
It has to be one of the most spectacular backdrops for a game of rugby in the world.
This tournament is huge, teams play in several divisions; championship, O35s, O45s and O50s as well as women starting at 8am on Thursday and going through until late on Sunday when they play the championship final.
Again we were joined by refs from all over the USA, as well as a number of refereeing visitors from the UK.
Such visitors are known as 'scallywags'. They are not officially at the tournament but turn up any way to enjoy the 'social occasion'.
There are a few additional 'rules' which the Aspen ref has to also take into account.
Having a drawn game results in the purchase of a case of beer (not cheap in Aspen); the loss of a match ball results in having one strapped to your person, and being found without your mascot costs you a round in the pub - as does requesting others to show their mascots and them not being found wanting in that respect.
I was given quite a few touch judging assignments over the four days which kept me very busy, and on the first day I refereed an O35s game between Denver Barbarians and Santa Montica.
Some of these players were still playing quite a high level of rugby, but somehow seemed over coached.
The pattern of play in general during the tournament was: very fit, very fast players with a lot of endeavour but missing a cutting edge.
Often content to seek contact, and have yet more second phase ball, when obvious overlaps and scoring opportunities went begging.
There were some very hard men playing though, and some of the 'hits' were brutal.
During Thursday and Friday, it again rained heavily and at one point there was doubt if the pitch would hold up.
However worse was to come and on the Saturday - my 10am touch judging duty was conducted in a snow shower, the temperature had dropped from 34 degrees on Wednesday to 4 degrees on Saturday.
The cold snap continued into Sunday and it was no surprise to me that following the traditional Saturday night parties - more than 300 rugby players in about four bars - the two teams who I were due to referee on the Sunday in the Plate consolation final decided to share the prize and go back to the pub instead.
I don't think that, if I protested that I'd come a fair way to ref that game, it would have held much water with them and I can't say I blame them.
My hosts were also a little disappointed that I didn't get quite as much time in the middle in Aspen as they or I would have liked but, as I pointed out to them, there can be no better place in the world to have your game go down than Aspen, and no better place to make the many friends I made during my trip.
Rugby is one of those sports where you could go to a local club or a game anywhere in the world and tell them you play, have played or you're a referee and you'll be warmly welcomed.
I spoke with players who toured Barnstaple last season and watched two clubs based 10 miles apart playing each other having travelled 900 miles to get there.
The spirit of the game is alive and well in the USA, which made it a very special and fantastic experience for me.
My hosts asked if I would consider going back to Aspen as a future scallywag. My answer? Definitely, who wouldn't?
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