Chris White is one of Gloucestershire’s finest. The former rugby referee has enjoyed a stellar career, rubbing shoulders with the biggest names in the game, officiating at three World Cups and taking charge of a whole host of top matches, so much so that back in the day he was regarded by many as the best on the planet.

And the just-turned 61-year-old is still very much involved with the game today, working in a full-time capacity for the RFU as one of the elite referee coaches and also working in the referee pathway. In addition Chris has a part-time role for the University of Gloucestershire as a Referee Scholar-ship Coordinator.

White, who is Cheltenham born and bred, is very proud of his work with the university which began in 2005 when he and former referee Andy Melrose established the officiating scholarship within the university’s sports scholarship scheme.

More than 80 have graduated

“It’s a bolt-on to the academic pathway provided by the university, it’s like a club,” White explained.
White remains the driving force behind the ‘club’, one which aims to develop and support students who are interested in becoming referees or officials in any given sport.

And it’s been a big success because more than 80 young men and women have graduated from the scheme with some of them reaching the very top in their chosen sport.

Chief among them are Rugby World Cup referee Matthew Carley, and Christophe Ridley, who has taken charge of games in the Six Nations Championship.

But there are many, many more success stories and White is keen to champion their achievements.
“Anthony Woodthorpe is a Premiership rugby referee,” White said. “There was a weekend in May when three of the five Premiership games were refereed by former University of Gloucestershire students.”

Woodthorpe, Carley and Ridley were the top trio and there are other graduates from the officiating scholarship who are making an impression in the world of rugby.
“George Selwood is a referee at the women’s 7s at this year’s Olympics,” continued White, “and Andy Wigley is a top 25 referee, he’s refereeing in the Championship.”

But it’s not just rugby that is benefitting from White’s work.

“We’ve expanded the scholarship to include other sports,” he said. “I’d say 50 to 60 per cent is rugby, 20 per cent is football, but we also have officials in hockey, netball and boccia.

“Dan Leach is a football assistant referee in the Championship, he’s run the line in 150 games.

“Jade Wardle runs the line in the Women’s Super League and referees in the Women’s Championship, Nat Wormleighton is a Level 3 football referee.”

And there’s more with Mike English a referee in the United Rugby Championship and Alex Marsh, who left Australia to study at the University of Gloucestershire, a Grade 1 rugby referee in Sydney.

All have prospered from the officiating scholarship inspired by White, a very specific coaching group for referees that ticks so many boxes.

“I’m really keen on transferable skills,” continued White. “Managing people, how you communicate, how you deal with difficult people, how you manage yourself – you are taking on a lot of responsibility.”

Specific skills for referees of the future

And on top of those life skills, White is keen to talk about the specific skills that the officiating scholarship provides for the referees of the future.

“Strength and conditioning, sports psychology, one-to-one tutoring,” he said. “It’s about focusing on the moment, peaking at the right time as well as the mental health aspect.

“It’s about managing conflict, last 10 minutes decision-making.”

The referee is pretty much on his own in those situations, of course, but those on the officiating scholarship are given plenty of support while they are learning the skills needed to become a referee.

“We create a team atmosphere,” explained White. “There is the one-to-one tutoring but as a group we spend plenty of time together.”
White wants them to feed off each other and support each other because, as he readily admits, there is an awful lot to learn.

And there are six key categories for White – fitness, choices, non-negotiables, mastering the basics, accepting and celebrating all referees are different and heads-up refereeing – that need to be nurtured and mastered to produce a top official.

“With fitness, I talk about presence on the pitch,” explained White.

“Christophe has it, when he’s not saying anything he creates effective eye contact with people or points, he’s continuously moving the game along.

“Choices covers where you choose to stand on the pitch, what you choose to say, what you prioritise at any moment – a lot of that comes with experience.

“Non-negotiables involves doing the basics very well. If a player is pulled back in the penalty area in football that is a penalty, it’s non-negotiable, you have to give a penalty.”

White includes “blowing the whistle beautifully” in his non-negotiables and when it comes to ‘differences’, he explained: “Referees are not robots, they’re not the same.

“Wayne Barnes is different from Christophe Ridley who is different from Matthew Carley and I want to celebrate that.

“You’ve got to be yourself, you’ve got to use your super-strengths.”

But while they are obviously different people they’ve all mastered the technique of heads-up refereeing.

“That’s about making a game work,” continued White. “A referee may have had problems in a game but if he’s solved them and no-one has noticed, that’s good refereeing.

“It’s about making it the best experience possible for the players, spectators and myself as the referee, and that could be an under-14 game or a game at the top level.”

Not everyone has it in their make-up to be a referee, of course. White says you’ve got to be organised, responsible and committed, you’ve got to be passionate about refereeing and the game itself. But while it’s clearly not something that anyone can do, he believes there are enough young people he can reach out to who want to make a difference.

And as such he wants to expand the officiating scholarship scheme, providing further opportunities to students enrolling at the University of Gloucestershire and expanding the reach for committed and talented young officials into neighbouring universities, referee societies and indeed other sports.

“We’re re-setting the dial, I want to expand it for the next academic year with the support of the RFU ,” White said.

“We’re going to have eight super Thursdays with great guest speakers and we’ll invite students from other satellite areas such as Warwick, Bristol and Birmingham to come along as well as other referees’ societies.

“The University of Gloucestershire will become a hub, we’re creating something vibrant with the aim of helping create the next level of referees and reinforcing support for young officials to grow together.”

White is clearly not a man who likes to stand still and the success stories keep on coming.

“One young scholar Alex Dellar refereed 104 games last season, anything from Level 11 to Level 6,” White said.

“He’ll referee at Cheltenham College, over at Longlevens, at Tewkesbury. He has refereed in Lisbon and the Algarve.

“If he does that for three years that’s 300-plus games, that’s an incredible experience. A normal referee will only do 25-30 games a season.

“We started with Matthew Carley when he was 19, his first game was at the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester, Christophe refereed at Pate’s Grammar School when he started.

“There’s so much need for referees, we also want young people to be the advocates of refereeing, to share why they love doing it and the sports they help.

“For me, when I see a very good referee in the middle I see an artist at work – balancing so many factors to help the game have time, space, safety and continuity.