AUSTRALIAN RUGBY LEAGUE REFEREES' ASSOCIATION INC.

THE COACHES OF THE REFEREES' COACHES

Mick Stone is the man most responsible for the ARLRA Referees' Caoching Scheme. It was he who approached the ARLRA in the first place with the idea of putting the course together and, combined with Richard Johnson of the QLD Rugby League Referees' Board, has turned the course into what it is today. Of recent time Mick has "flick-passed" the Level 1 Course to David Jay and Barrie Keenehan in NSW so that he can concentrate on the Level 2 Presentations and subsequant assessments of the work that the Level 2 candidates have to submit before earning their registration. Richard continues to conduct the courses in Queensland.

David Jay is a former NRL referee and current member of the NSWRLRA Advisory Board who has taken on the responsibility of presenting the Level 1 Course to prospective NSW Level 1 candidates. He is an excellent presenter and makes the courses a lot of fun but educational at the same time. His course forte is "networking" which is usually done over a few quite ales at the end of a hard day in the course classroom and can even result in a session on the karaoke machine at the local "networking centre". Mark Bowditch of NSW Group 21 recently found out just how much work David puts in to his "networking" and suffered the consequences the next day.

Barrie Keenahan is well known in both NSW and NSW Country Rugby League circles and like David Jay is an excellent course presenter. A former leading NSW Country referee who also officiated in the NSWRL competition, Barrie is also a leading identity in the Australian Touch Association. He was instrumental in developing the "Illawarra Model" for referee coaching and assessment which is used as a case study in the Level 1 Course.

The Level 1 Course conducted at Wollongong 21-23 March 2003.
A "networked-out" Mark Bowditch can be seen over David Jay's left shoulder (fourth from the left in the back row).