President’s Award Presented to Paul Houston

Last night (11th April) at the Society's President's Dinner,  the President of Manchester and District Rugby Union Referees Society (John Jeskins) presented Paul Houston (the Society's Hon. Sec.) with the President's Award.  The award is given at the President's discretion for service to the Society. More

World Rugby Head Contact Process Update March 2023

Attached is the latest version of the HCP. This follows both our discussions at the Lensbury pre 6 Nations as well as subsequent HCP working group discussions. HCP Update World Rugby 2023 As discussed there have been some cosmetic changes which reflect how we currently apply the process which are now formalised in ... More

England Rugby Match Official Update – April 2023

Distribution: Referee Society Training Officers Referee Society Secretaries RFRU Secretary Good afternoon, I hope you’re well, or at least better than the weather! It was super to meet some of you in person on the recent Match Official Roadshows, thank you very much for your time and input on these events. ... More

Tackle Height – Society Update – Powerpoint Presentation

This is the presentation from the Society March Meeting Click Here to View and Download   See also Tackle Height some issues More

RFU recognise YMO Nathan Power’s progress

One year from his interview for an England Rugby website article - "Young, Talented and in Control", Nathan Power, one of our Young Match Officials (YMO), features in this month's England Rugby Match Official Update.  Nathan recently refereed his first senior game (Broughton RUFC 1XV vs Ashton Under Lynne 1XV) and ... More

Tackle Height presentation from Society meeting available

The presentation given by Roger Bowden, Chairman, at the Society meeting on 7 February 2023 is now available for download. It covers some of the issues relating to the RFU announcement on lowering the tackle height with effect from July 2023. More

Tackle Height – Update January 27 2023

Update January 27th Link: https://www.englandrugby.com/news/article/rfu-statement-tackle-height   The RFU Board, Council and executive staff apologise for the anger and concern that has been created among the rugby community by announcing the decision to lower the tackle height from next season. Rationale ... More

Law Application Guidelines & Revised Water Carrier Law Trial – Effective January 1, 2023

We have issued this Law Application Guideline following the Shape of the Game conference a few weeks ago. It formally becomes operational in January.  This reminds all stakeholders of existing law in a variety of areas of the game which require focus as we head towards RWC23. We are obviously in the period of ‘no law ... More

Young Match Officials Presented with their Society Shirts

Manchester and District Society issued their Young Match Officials with an early Christmas present at the December Society Meeting. Pictured are five of the society’s YMOs who attended the society meeting and were presented with new refereeing shirts by President, John Jeskins. John also congratulated Ollie as he has ... More

How Many Players? – Leagues’ Regulations

Rob Jones has put together a spreadsheet giving guidance on the number of players, replacements allowed by various leagues. It is there as a guide and referees need to keep checking league websites to keep fully uptodate. Click here for spreadsheet.   More