Ben William's London Olympic update

Evening everyone,

Been thinking on what to do in the off season (the other 51 weeks of the year until Kanga 2013) with the blog, and figured that with so many up and comer's from this year's Kanga RYA getting games at State / National levels, there may be some interest in keeping up with each other's officiating adventures through this medium. 

Here's a quick update

Ben William (FIFA Ref who spoke on Sunday night) flew out to London on 19th July and sent out this group email - really informative about his pathway so far.

Hi All,

Well, the day has finally arrived. After 20 years of refereeing and over 3 months since finding out that I was appointed to referee at the 2012 London Olympic Games, the day to jump on that plane, has finally arrived!

It has taken a while for the excitement to build for this tournament, as initially it seemed so far off, with many difficult training sessions in the cold Canberra winter ahead. However, over the past few weeks when the TV ads about London and the stories of athletes etc have been increasing, the reality has begun to set in that this is really happening.

I am so very lucky to have 2 world class Assistant Referees (linesmen) in Matthew Cream and Hakan Anaz, accompany me as part of my team of officials. These gentleman are not only excellent at what they do on a football field, but are blokes with whom I have worked for many years (Creamy since 1995 and Harks since 2002), and I am lucky enough to call my good mates. There have been a few bumps along the way, but we are now fully prepared to embark upon this journey (gee, I sound like I'm on a reality TV show, talking like that!).

We first found out about being selected on the short list of Prospective Referees for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, back in April while we were in Dubai for an Asian Champions League match. We'd just finished the game and were back in our respective hotel rooms in the early hours of the morning following the match. I couldn't sleep after the match and it was 4.39am when I got a text message from my very good mate, Ben Wilson, back in Australia, asking if I was awake. Benny had sent Creamy the same text and by the time I'd replied to Benny saying that I was awake, he had rung me. I answered at the same time as I heard a knock on my hotel room door. Creamy's room was in the other wing of the hotel and when he received the text from Benny, he took off running straight to my room. I answered the door to a very excited Creamy, whilst I put Benny on loud speaker as he told us the news that we'd been selected as one of 7 trios from Asia and one of 52 worldwide to fight it out for World Cup selection in Brazil in 2014. To say we were stoked, is an understatement! Hakan was in the room next to me, so rather than bash his door down, I rang and woke him up, saying that we'd received some terrible news and that he should come into my room. Creamy and I couldn't hide our excitement when he arrived, and he was greeted by the news and plenty of man-hugs. After not having a drink all trip, we cracked the mini bar in the hotel room for a celebratory drink. We rang Australia and spoke to our respective loved ones as well as ringing to congratulate Peter Green and Brad Hobson in their selection as one of 4 reserve trios from Asia also. Needless to say, we didn't go back to sleep until we had boarded the plane home and were somewhere over the Indian Ocean.

The following Wednesday, I had been at school, every lesson on class, and playground duties on top. I finished the last class, had time to grab my phone, notepad and drink bottle and head up for the whole staff meeting. I began walking to the main building as I checked my phone. There were plenty of missed calls and emails. I figured there must be some good news, so I quickly scanned through my emails to find one from FIFA, saying that my trio had been selected to referee at the London Olympics. I was pumped and quickly rang the boys to congratulate them.

Fast forward 3 months and I look back on how the build up has been, and I know that we've had a great preparation. I've been so pleased with the dedication and effort that Creamy and Harks have put in to get to where we are now - on a plane to London, about to represent ourselves, our families and friends, Capital Football / Football SA / Football Federation Victoria, Football Federation Australia, the Asian Football Confederation, and FIFA, at an Olympic Games.

There have been many hard training sessions where it may have been easier to sit on the couch in the warmth of our homes, many hours in the gym, at the track and on the fields, many rainy and cold sessions. There has been time away from our loved ones, much money spent and points used to get us around the country to work together. There have been hydrotherapy sessions, hot and cold sessions in the pools, sessions with our sports psychologist, sessions with our running coach, downloading and analysis of our heart rate data, analysis of our on-field performances, FIFA Laws of the Game Trivia tests, match scenario video tests, offside tests, weekly weigh-in and resting heart rate recording, FIFA medical screenings, and the list goes on. This is the reality for refereeing football these days.

I am thankful that I have a beautiful wife, loving family, great mates, and hugely supportive workplace, that allow me to continue to do this in search of my goals. I am also so very thankful that I have 2 great mates in Creamy and Harks, that have shown absolute professionalism and dedication to join me on this journey, and sacrifice so much.

We've been lucky enough to prepare not only individually in our respective home cities of Canberra (me), Adelaide (Creamy), and Melbourne (Harks), but travel to undertake training weekends together. We have also had matches arranged for us in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra, so thank you to the people who made that happen, and to the boys for paying their way to fly around the country.

We are not the only representatives from Australia, however, to officiate in London. We also had Allyson Flynn and Sarah Ho selected as Assistant Referees on the Women's side of the draw. Allyson and Sarah both ran the lines at the Women's FIFA World Cup last year in Germany, and had the opening match of tournament in front of 73,000 spectators. These 2 ladies, in my opinion, are the best 2 females in the world at what they do. They both officiate in the Hyundai A-League (men's football) and are the only 2 females to do so.

All 5 of us had our final hurdle to overcome in the form of our FIFA Fitness Test, in Canberra on June 16. I had no doubt that all 5 of us had worked hard and it was going to be a mere formality of passing the test, submitting the paperwork and heart rate data, then London here we come. This was true and that box was ticked.

In an unfortunate turn of events, Allyson had picked up a niggle that didn't seem to be improving. She is absolutely super-fit and even with an injury, we were confident that she would have time to recover and still make the Games. The injury didn't respond to treatment and after the MRI
results confirmed that she has developed a stress-fracture in her femur, her London dream was over. This was particularly sad for me as Allyson has been training with me for years now in Canberra and to know how much work she had put in and how dedicated she is, to not be able to attend was heartbreaking. I know how shattered she must be, but to put a positive spin on a negative event like that, I am 100% confident that she will bounce back and recover from the injury, and be back bigger and stronger. She's still young enough to go through to the 2024 Olympics if she wishes! So there will be plenty more opportunities for Al, despite her being missed by all 4 of us other Aussie officials.

Hakan had pre-arranged a family holiday in Turkey, well before our Olympic appointment came through and the week following our Fitness Test, he flew out to Turkey with his family. I know he has been training hard (I can tell by his heart rate data) as well as working on his tan. I think Creamy and I will have to ask him to swim down the other end of the pool in London as my Canberra sun tan will be sadly outshone. Creamy's not much better either!

So, that brings us to today, the 18th of July. Departure day. Harks will fly direct to London from Istanbul, and I am meeting Creamy and Sarah in Sydney.  With my final training session completed in the morning, my gorgeous wife accompanied me to Canberra airport, where she saw me off. I flew up to Sydney to meet Creamy and Sarah. Being platinum on qantas and emerald on oneworld, allows me access to first class lounge in Sydney airport. Sarah was coming from work, so Creamy and I went up the escalator to enjoy the lounge. We sat down at the dining table for a sit-down restaurant-quality meal, and the traditional celebratory glass of champagne. Bollinger was the order of the day. We awaited our British Airways boarding call, and I am currently writing this on our way to London, via Singapore. FIFA look after us and are flying us business class, so we're looking forward to trying to get our body accustomed to London time, then put the bed flat and get some sleep.

We have our accreditation passes and that is supposed to allow us to get through customs at Heathrow a lot quicker, as it doubles as a visa. We're hoping that the recent media reports of 3-hour queues in customs, doesn't affect those of us competing/officiating!

We are not staying in the village when we arrive as FIFA have booked us into a very nice hotel in Mayfair. If you don't know much about London, have a look on a monopoly board and check out the prices of a hotel in Mayfair - that $200 you get for passing GO, doesn't go too far!

We don't know which matches we will be appointed to as yet. There are 24 group matches (4 groups of 4 teams), then Quarter-finals, Semi-finals, and then finally, the Bronze and Gold medal matches. The Final match is on August 11 at Wembley Stadium in London. The  other 5 venues are St James' Park (Newcastle), City of Coventry Stadium (Coventry) Hamden Park (Glasgow, Scotland), Millennium Stadium (Cardiff, Wales), and Old Trafford (Manchester).

There are 16 trios of referees, including us. So, we can assume that everyone gets one match, half of the trios get a second game, then it's up for grabs for the Quarters, Semis and the Bronze and Gold medal matches.

Whilst we would take the Final any day of the week, the reality is that we need to focus on performing well in the first match, and let the rest of it take it's course.

We will be training pretty much every morning, then back for lunch, then seminars and workshops every afternoon. We're not sure how much down time we'll get, so we'll play that by ear also. Matches begin for the women's matches on July 25, with our men's matches starting on July 26. The Opening Ceremony is on a rest day for us - July 27. We may be able to attend, depending in whether or not we have been involved in a match.

Well, we're about to land in Singapore so I'd best finish this email. The next email will be much, much shorter, I promise! It will come to you from London itself.

If you don't wish to receive these emails, no worries, just let me know and I'll take your name off the list.

Let the Games begin!! Until next time...

Cheers,

Ben Williams


The first appointments were released yesterday

Olympics 2012 Referee Appointments Match day 1
26 July 2012

M1, Group D
14:45 CET, Glasgow (Hampden Park)
Spain - Japan
Referee: Mark Geiger (USA)
Assistant Referee 1: Mark Hurd (USA)
Assistant Referee 2: Joe Fletcher (CAN)
Fourth Official: Roberto Garcia (MEX)
Blog Observer: Chefren (ITA)

M2, Group B
14:30 CET, Newcastle (St.James-Park)
Mexico - Korea Rep.
Referee: Slim Jedidi (TUN)
Assistant Referee 1: Bechir Hassani (TUN)
Assistant Referee 2: Sherif Hassan (EGY)
Fourth Official: Juan Soto (VEN)
Blog Observer: Niclas E (GER)

M3, Group D
12:00 CET, Glasgow (Hampden Park)
Honduras - Morocco
Referee: Pavel Královec (CZE)
Assistant Referee 1: Martin Wilczek (CZE)
Assistant Referee 2: Antonin Kordula (CZE)
Fourth Official: Svein Oddvar Moen (NOR)
Blog Observer: Maicon O (BRA)

M4, Group A
17:00 CET, Manchester (Old Trafford)
UA Emirates - Uruguay
Referee: Peter O'Leary (NZL)
Assistant Referee 1: Jan-Hendrik Hintz (NZL)
Assistant Referee 2: Ravinesh Kumar (FIJ)
Fourth Official: Felix Brych (GER)
Blog Observer: Hubert D (POL)

M5, Group B
17:15 CET, Newcastle (St.James-Park)
Gabon - Switzerland
Referee: Wilmar Roldán (COL)
Assistant Referee 1: Humberto Clavijo (COL)
Assistant Referee 2: Eduardo Diaz (COL)
Fourth Official: Raúl Orosco (BOL)
Blog Observer: Niclas E (GER)

M6, Group C
19:45 CET, Coventry (City of Coventry Stadium)
Belarus - New Zealand
Referee: Bakary Gassama (GAM)
Assistant Referee 1: Jason Damoo (SEY)
Assistant Referee 2: Angesom Ogbamariam (ERI)
Fourth Official: Yuichi Nishimura (JPN)
Blog Observer: Carlos S (COL)

M7, Group C
19:45 CET, Cardiff (Millennium Stadium)
Brazil - Egypt
Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (ITA, photo, ZIMBIO)
Assistant Referee 1: Elenito di Liberatore (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Gianluca Cariolato (ITA)
Fourth Official: Mark Clattenburg (ENG)
Blog Observer: Philipp S (GER)

M8, Group A
20:00 CET, Manchester (Old Trafford)
Great Britain - Senegal
Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (UZB)
Assistant Referee 1: Abdukhamidullo Rasulov (UZB)
Assistant Referee 2: Bakhadyr Kochkarov (KGZ)
Fourth Official: Benjamin Williams (AUS)
Blog Observer: Turan O (TUR)

I'll try and keep updating Ben's progress and wish him all the best from everyone at KCRYA.

KCRYA Photos All Uploaded

Hey everyone,

All the photos from KCRYA have now been uploaded (I think).  David L has some more that I'll pester him to send to me as we had technical difficulties getting his card into a reader on Friday night.  The only finals venue that I don't have pictures for is AIS Synthethic, so if you have some drop me a line and we can get them into the flickr feed for everyone to access / download.

Once again, happy to have them cross posted onto FB or anywhere, but attribution of the owner is requested and definiately no using them for commercial purposes without asking first please (as occured with 2011's pics).

I have some videos that I'll load somewhere once I get more time / bandwidth.  Flickr limits video to 90 seconds, so the hrs of presentation material may have to go to someplace like Dropbox or Google Drive.  Anyone have any recommendations or suggestions I be happy to hear peoples preferences.

Brilliant to see everyone gathering online and sharing stories and memories.  It was a brilliant week by everyone and I'd ask that you quietly promote the event in the most positive fashion you feel comfortable with, to change perceptions.  And the best way you can do this is to take all that you learnt during the week and apply it on the field / infront of assessors this weekend and into your local finals. 

Finally, attended FB Junior Coach night in the last few hours (Nth Side).  Was able to catch up with about half the guys (and one girl) from KCRYA.  They were very excitely showing assessment reports, talking about the experience and creating a buzz.  Very proud to say I now know these young people who positively represented themselves at an International Tournament, showing the personal qualities of respect, pride and committment for the uniform they wear. Well done for showing up tonight, it was a big week.

Good luck for the upcoming final rounds and finals in the next few weeks.  I'm off to actually do some paid work for the next few days (should be like a holiday to go canoeing / hiking as compared to KCRYA management), but hope to do some online feedback and perhaps gather your thoughts on 2013 in the coming weeks.

Signing off for now......

KangaCupRef

Travelling and AIS finals day pictures

Hope everyone who was still at RefHQ overnight had a good morning and a bit of rest before travelling home today.  I was on the Hume heading to Newcastle with David L by 4am.  We both appreciate that the noise last night died down early and everyone was able to get some sleep at a reasonable time.  As I publish the last few should be leaving the HQ for another year (thanks to David and Sigourney) and we hope to be back at the YMCA Bush Capital Lodge in 2013.  Good food, reasonable accommidation and evening events with flashing lights and sirens.

A layover at the Maskell Flight Club for the last few hours.  Great beds for cat naps, lunch provided, shower services and best of all free internet.  Highly recommended and I give it 5 Stars. As such, took the opportunity to upload all Paul Smiths pictures from AIS finals yesterday.  You can find them on the Flickr stream, see the link to the right.  Search for AIS.  All photos are searchable with tags, like AIS or Day5 or Finals as I upload them.  I'll try and put up the finals photos I have first and then go backwards to the start of the week.  I also have a large amount of video from presentations and some game football - yet to work out where to put it, but will use the blog to keep you informed.

Gotta go and catch a flight to BrisVegas....  Enjoy your first day back in the real world and safe travel everyone.

The end

Just after 11pm and the boys who remain at KCRYA are back from Ted at the movies and getting photos with each other and assesors, trying to capture the last moments of the experience before departures beginning at 4am.  Already about half the group have travelled home and are no doubt showered and enjoying the comforts of home. 

It's been a great week and today's finals were challenging but not beyond anyone's ability, with many good / excellent reports from around the grounds.  And thankfully no issues with the actual games beyond a few yellows and 2 RC, supporters well behaved generally.

Heading to bed now, have a very early start.  I'll continue to update the flickr photo vault (12 gig of photos from assessors to be uploaded) and will blog about reflections on KCRYA 2012 when I'm less tired.

Finished

Heading back to RefHQ from AIS dinner then movie to celebrate today's brilliant finals

Sent from my iPhone

Red card

RC for swearing by JPC, still 3-0 against Mt Pritchard

18's Final

Just after halftime at Boys 18 final 3-0 to JPC
Getting cold but lots of animated referees discussing today's finals experience
Kevin well in control

Mckellar Final day

Great weather and good quality refereeing today at McKellar for Finals. Watching Alex from WA doing the U/18 Girls then heading to Boys afterwards to finish the day at AIS

Awards Night postscript

Final post for tonight - uploading pictures from the Awards night now and hopefully will do more game pics from Thursday early in the morning before departure for the finals.

Thanks to David and Allyson for attending tonight to present certificates to all participants, Kanga Cup Referee unique shirts (credit to Scott Ferguson, it was old stock from a generation ago, but I can see it becoming a standard issue in 2013) for Finals Referees (10 out of 25 finals to KCRYA, 40%) and the naming of the Award winners.  The group seemed pleased with the winners, usually a good reflection of a choice based upon both on field and off field assessments done correctly by the assessors.


Evening finished with written feedback from the group about their experience followed by checking out the appointments by everyone.  Lots of happy referees and pizza arrived for a small party atmosphere until bedtime was finally enforced at 10:30pm.

Can't make a decision about where to go to watch / assess tommorrow. AIS has some guys I saw during the week who impressed and U/18's but the venue is ordinary to watch from.  McKellar Stadium is a great venue but perhaps less exciting games.

Think I'll sleep on it, bedtime is calling....

Qld Finals Update - sorry but I'm a Brissie boy at heart

Given some of my blog audience are from where I live, here's the breakdown of finals appointments for the Qld boys and girl who have been participating at Kanga 2012.
In no particular order....
From Football Brisbane

• Bradley Burton U/12 Cup Referee
• Brendan Sheppard U/15 Cup AR2
• Brett Pedley U/18 Cup 4th official
• Daniel Olson U/16 Cup Referee and Senior Referee of the Tournament
• Dylan Lambert U/18 Cup AR1
• Jasmin Smajic U/18 Female Cup AR1
• Joshua Oakley U/15 Female Plate Referee
• Nicholas Spanner U/12 Shield AR2
• Tori Hornsveld U/14 Plate 4th official
• Zijad Ahmetovic U/14 Plate AR2

And to support my old zone Wide Bay

• Llewellyn Evans U/13 Plate AR1
• Tom Wheeler U/12 Shield AR1

Excellent results guys, a very strong showing from a large Qld group.  You've proved once again that Football Brisbane is moving in the right direction and providing excellent quality in junior / youth development.

Particular happy for Bradley, Brendan and Llewellyn who I've assessed previously and everyone else, I'll be hoping to do follow up assessments in the coming months to see how your progressing.  Congrats everyone and get to sleep, kick off is in 10 hours

And the awards for KCRYA are....

Fun Awards given out tonight

•  Stiffest hair - Hayden
• The Spiderman - Dylan
• Father Time - Time
• King of the Clips - Wayne
• Mr. Sandman - Louie
• Foosball Champions - Central Coast Crew
• The Room Clearer - Jamie
• Umbrellewar AR -Tori
• Dream Crasher - Alex
• Sir Snorealot - Jeremy
• Facebook Fiend - Matt

Serious Awards given out tonight

Junior Referee of the Tournament

Jack Bell, 16yo, Eastern Suburbs Football Association

Senior Referee of the Tournament

Daniel Olson, 19yo, Football Brisbane

Referee of the Tournament

Kevin McMillan, 19, Auckland Football Federation

Congratulations boys and good luck for tommorrow

Thursday night fines...

Fines from today

Luke - no shoes at dinner
Damien - two RC
Dylan - RC
Mitch - clothing coordination
Luke - failed to bring a ball to the game, wrong size brought out
Brett - most disorganised rain (5 players, wrong sized ball)
Hayden - failed to bring a coin, rock paper scizzors, drew three times, then found his coin and the match )
Ian - run a line this afternoon, nice push, signelled the wrong way, cookaburra had a laugh, threw the flag away
Mitch - U/11 YC
Matt - Seagull award
Paul - farting during the fire false alarm that made everyone move quicker than the fire alarm
Paul S - socializing

Thursday update

The last whistle has been blown today on Semi Finals and the only games left for the Academy crew are finals on Friday.  Everyone who's back is showering and getting ready for the awards night after dinner and then the excitment and perhaps disappointment of the finals appointments.

Good evening to come and early to bed for everyone.  I'll post more pictures from the last two days (sorry, behind as usual) and some from tonight if I can get it done early

Monday night fines

Nightly as part of the review, we like to discuss the Good, the Bad and the Ugly from the day's competition, specifically how we can get better the next day.  Highlighted issues included get wider, get closer and lots of good refereeing performances.

Small Fines applied for miscellanous issues in a light hearted manner with the KYRYA group included the following

• Paul and takeaway coffees -v- bus
• Kyle - something about inappropriate piecing
• Darren - didn't do the washing for Rm 6
• David - false accusations
• Kieran - birthday boy today, happy 20th
• Brett - inappropriate shoe purchase at Uni
• Wayne - lost....
• Jeremy - 2YC
• Louie - RC
• Daniel - 2YC
• Jamie / Dean - hat issues
• Wayne - clothing taste before breakfast
• Trent - misplaced 5 minutes somewhere
• Jeremy - only Kiwi not to be fined yet, watching the $$$
• David - dropoffs
• Lachlan -
• Brendan - made the kids cry (big meanie)
• Brendan again - stacked off the kickoff
• Mystery - midnight murmings
• Brendan again 2 - inappropriate comments, see Mystery previously

Now, back to business.  Tonight Allyson Flynn is presenting to everyone on the topic
"It's not just a man's world".  Allyson is the Referee Development Manager at Capital Football and FIFA Assistant Referee and has been a contributor to Kanga Cup over the years. 

Our own Paul Smith, FIFA Instructor and Kanga Cup 6 year veteran will conclude the night talking "Assessnig an Elite Referee".

 Another busy evening at KCRYA - hope to get to bed before midnight

Best opening ceremony ever!!!!

Late again, never seems to change at Kanga Cup how the time drains away and I'm once again updating the day after midnight..  Fortunately the tennis is on - no spoilers here, so don't worry and this will be quick

Seminar today, same same as previous years, but much bigger....
Today's stats

• 27 assessors / referee coordinators / mentors, 100% increase on 2011????
• 40% increase in referee participation, approximately 140
• 400 sausages cooked
• 4 versions of Monday's appointments already, waiting until morning to print out final copies for the day
• 640 matches scheduled
• 12 years that Norm Armstrong contributed to Kanga Cup as referees assessor, coach, 3am finals appointments club member - we observed a moments silence today in his passing last December, rest in peace my friend, your presence here is missed.

Beep test, high scorers being 14.5 and 13, but great job from all taking part - Thanks Mark for helping run warm ups at short notice

This was followed by lunch BBQ brought to you by The 3 Stooges (Nathan, David, Paul), with supervision from Sigourney.  "You want my meat anybody" - Quote of the Day; lots of pushing, shoving, YC offenses generally

Quick change into nice clothing and off to the front of the line and polite clapping at the opening ceremony.  Respect to the CEO for recognizing at length the contribution of the referees in Kanga with year.  Much better from 2011.

Tori took the oath on behalf of the Referees, great job in a big room.  Quickest opening on record, about 20 minutes of actual presentation and we're heading for supplies before a quick dinner

After dinner, Ben Williams attended and presented his road to the top and the challenges ahead as he prepares for London 2012 and World Cup 2014.  Really fasinating stuff, answered lots of behind the FIFA door stuff about refereeing at elite levels.
One a personal note, it's really rewarding to see Ben do so well after being a colleague / competitor at National Titles in 1995 - a group that produced 7 FIFA badges from 20 referees
With Mark Nester in attendance, (he got the U/16 Grand Final, Ben was 4th, I think I was doing Myspace updates on a very long phone cord????) it was a mini reunion of telling tall tales from an era ago.
Here's the group and some faces are still running around on your local field somewhere.....

So from memory lane, it's back to Day 1 reality tommorrow and everyone was in bed early and not talking, so presumably asleep. 

Early start, buses departing HQ from 7:45am carrying lots of hopes and dreams and excitment from this years Kanga Cup Referees Youth Academy.

Off to bed - don't forget to checkout today's photos on Flickr and follow me on twitter, live from U/18's at Hawker on Monday.  Some videos to go up later, but not tonight

Go Murray....

Bedtime.

Arrival Day

Good first day, almost everyone arrived who nominated and the team seems to be bonding well.
Dinner was lasagne, followed by indoor climbing and David Kurthi doing an "house rules" and introductions session.  I provided some sage advice about FB and social media usage during the week and following, I can only hope that they don't make too many mistakes...

Some details are leaking out about this weeks program....
 Allyson Flynn, Capital Football Referee Development Manager will be presenting whilst on crutches, speaking about the balancing act of being a FIFA AR.
 Ben Williams and Ben Wilson will make another presentation about the view from the top and hopefully some pre-Olympics gossip

On the rurmour mill, there may even be an appeared by Mark Shields, details to be confirmed........

For those of you statistically minded....

•  Record number of Referee mentors are in attendance (13 for those taking count)
•  Record number of new referees (42?) as opposed to returning (4)
• Number of times Louie has been caugh napping in 2012 (0)

 
Everyone is finally been encouraged to head to bed and aside from one room still making too much noise (I'm looking in your direction Rm6), I'm heading towards my bunk bed.

Sunday is early breakfast, Mentors meeting, Fitness "assessment" in the beep test (hoping to beat 14 this year) and some quality instruction from local lumerinaries.

Uploaded today's pictures to the Flickr account, look for AusRef or click the linke to the right.  Happy to add any to the stream, see me at RefHQ.
 Thanks to Scott Ferguson once again freely providing this great resource of treasured memories going back to 2001

Follow me on Twitter@KangaCupRef and visit the Kanga Cup Referees - 2012 event page

ZZzzzzzz..........

And so it begins again....

Quick update.  Welcome back Kanga Cup Referees for 2012.  Dinner is being followed by some local indoor rock climbing and then a introduction / house rules / expectations meeting.  Already the group is looking good, lots of excited discussions about football taking place and many new friendships being started.

Some look tired already from the travel day, so perhaps off to be early
Update and some pictures later