Bishops Platinum Blue 2018 full mag crop

Whistle blowers
There is an encouraging trend to
get schoolboys into the refereeing
ranks. Duncan Cruickshank spoke
with two of them.
STARTING REFEREES “young” is
an exciting development for the
game and Bishops has embraced
the concept, giving aspiring
referees the opportunity to blow
the whistle from a young age.
Given the complicated – and
often subjective – nature of the
interpretation of rugby’s laws
(yes, laws, not rules!), experience
and coaching are vital to
becoming the world’s best
referee. Identifying those
characters who have a talent and
flair for adjudicating the mistakes
and transgressions of 30 rugby
players is vitally important for
both the present and the future
of the game.
Bishops has two notable young
referees who are climbing the
ladder in the refereeing world
and both of these young men’s
passion for their craft is palpable.
Wesley Holtmann is in Grade
11. When he was in Grade 8, a
notice on the board caught his
eye; he admits that playing rugby
wasn’t exactly his thing at the
time and the opportunity to be
involved in the game that he
is obviously passionate about
from a different perspective
piqued his interest.
An introductory referees’
course at Newlands gave him the
basics and he was soon making
his debut at the Skeeles Sevens
Tournament, a memory not
exactly filled with highlights! “It
was a tough introduction,
especially dealing with comments
from parents and coaches,” he
remembers with a laugh.
“We’ve been trained to say
‘thank you for your opinion, sir,
I’ll certainly take your comments
on board’ and to then to carry on
as we’ve been coached,” he
explains. Unfortunately, it seems,
this continues to be the referee’s
greatest challenge. “However, on
the field, you’re in charge, so if
there is any negativity from the
players, a chat with the captain
quickly sorts that out!”
There is a rule for schoolboy
referees starting out that they
can only officiate in games
involving players of the same age
or younger, so Wesley spent his
Grade 8 and 9 years refereeing
the lower U14 and U15 games
respectively. By Grade 10, he had
caught the eye of Ben Theron, the
legendary WP Referees’ Society
man, who seconded him onto his
five-man “panel” of schoolboy
referees and he has been
refereeing at schoolboy festivals
and some club sevens
tournaments around the Cape.
A passion for medicine has
seen Wesley become head of First
Aid at school – Friday evenings
are usually spent patching up
survivors of ball and stick injuries
around the hockey fields, while
he also volunteers on ambulances
and in hospital ERs (he has a
thing for trauma, clearly) and,
during the summer months, as a
lifeguard at Fishhoek beach. He is
also managing to fit in playing the
euphonium in various music
ensembles, all while achieving
academically in order to study
medicine when he finishes
school! One is left wondering
where he finds the time – and
just how much time his mom
spends chauffeuring him around
the peninsula!
A devastating rugby injury at
a young age and a realization that
the referees who should have
assisted in avoiding that injury
were not very good are just some
of the early motivations that got
Calum Wehmeyer to learn the
laws and take up the whistle.
“During one particular U12
game I was scrumming against a
loosehead who couldn’t support
his own weight without holding
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