News from the Referees' Commission

The FSR Referee’s Commission is pleased and proud to announce the new grading of several referees. During the second part of the 2013/14 season the RC has taken strides (monthly training meetings with the support of clubs, re-introduction of IRB courses, more assessments, mentoring from LNA referees and feedback from FSR coaches) to improve and motivate the refereeing in Switzerland. The referees’ response has resulted in grade improvements for several of them. Please share our congratulations to:

Francois Molette (Winterthur)

Jeremy Tuson (GC Zurich)

Andrew Burn (RFC Basel)

Lionel da Silva (RC Bern)

Laurent Grand Pierre (GPLO)

Loic Schepmans (RC Fribourg)

Boris Horquin (LUC)

Andreas Keiser (RC Solothurn)

We are also happy to announce that Yann Benoit (FSR) has completed his IRB3 qualification. This required not only course work but also assessments over a number of games. Yann has already been recognized by Rugby Europe (previously FIRA-AER) by being appointed to referee at the forthcoming 2014 U20 European Championship next month in Prague.

 We would also like to welcome new referees:

Greg Baxter (RU Zurich)

Catherine Graf (RC Neuchatel)

Richard Thorpe (RFC Basel)

Paul Diviani (RC Ticino)

Colin Martin (RFC Basel)

Lauren Marin (OC Monthey)

Marco Rovatti (RC Lugano)

Andy Whitlow (Stade Lausanne)

Yoann Dametto (OC Monthey)

Nick Grisewood (RC Nyon)

 And the German and Italian referees new to the FSR RC

Pascal Lorenz (DRV)

Francesco Meschini (RC Lugano) (FIR)

Luca Trentin (RC Lugano) (FIR)

For those interested in taking up refereeing, the first step is to register for a LCA training course. Dates for the next LCA courses are noted on the FSR website (Dec 2014, Feb 2015). If interested, please contact the referee Training Manager by e-mail: referee-training(AT)suisserugby.com