Bishops Platinum Blue 2018 full mag crop

BISHOPS RUGBY SINCE 1861
himself up with his arm on the
ground. I pointed this out to the
referee, but he did nothing about
it and I ended up with a neck
injury that prevented me from
playing again,” he explains.
Fortunately, the injury was not
so severe that he couldn’t
continue to lead an active,
physical lifestyle and rowing
became his first passion, leading
to provincial colours while at
Bishops. At the same time, he
took the opportunity to do the
schoolboy referee course, joined
the referees’ society and started
refereeing games at school.
Calum finished at Bishops in
2017 and has moved to Scotland
to Edinburgh University, where
he is studying biomedical science.
His philosophy on refereeing is
a disarmingly simple one, “I
always want to be seen to be
enjoying myself out there and I
will smile a lot,” he explains.
He also believes that the voice
is often a more powerful tool
than the whistle and believes in
communicating clearly to players,
especially when it comes to
offside lines.
Calum has caught the eye of
the referees’ society in Scotland, a
welcome youthful addition to
their ranks and has been
increasingly called in to referee
club games, many of which are
women’s matches.
When asked what makes a
good referee, he is quick to
emphasise the importance of
positioning on the field. “The best
referees in the world are those
who are in the right positions to
make decisions,” he explains, “It’s
something I work on a lot.”
With these two young men
among a growing group of
Bishops boys in charge of rugby
Above: Wesley Holtmann started
refereeing in Grade 8.
Inset and right: Calum Wehmeyer
refereeing recently at Bishops and
in the Scottish Conference
Cup semi-final.
matches around the world, it is
only a matter of time before the
school celebrates another
international rugby call-up.
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