USA Rugby Policy for the Training and Assignment of Young Match Officials
Young Match Officials (YMOs) for the purpose of these policies and recommendations apply to those who have not yet reached 18 years of age. These policies are for courses and assignments related to all rugby with tackling, even if the contact in some parts of the Game is restricted. Rugby match officials shoulder part of the responsibility for ensuring a safe environment for players. USA Rugby (USAR) wishes to ensure that match officials under its auspices have the training and maturity to contribute to the creation of that safe environment. USAR also wishes to create a safe environment for YMOs to develop. In furtherance of these two goals, USAR has adopted the following policies and makes the following recommendations.
Policies
Anyone involved in assigning or coaching YMOs must be familiar with and comply with USAR policies involving minors. Anyone working with YMOs must be current in their SafeSport certification and comply with all SafeSport requirements.
A certified Coach of Match Officials (CMO), certified Performance Reviewer (PR), or adult referee with at least 5 years’ experience qualified to referee the match must be present as an observer and coach for any varsity match, adult match, adult or varsity sevens match, or full-contest rugby match with a YMO as referee (match types defined below). If a parent or guardian is not accompanying the YMO, they must approve in writing the person supervising the minor. This may be the same person serving as coach or observer.
All tackle rugby matches must have either a referee or observer with current concussion recognition training.
Different age limits apply to different types of matches.
Limited-contest age-grade match: a match with most players under 16yo and without contested scrums of more than 3 players or lifting (lineouts or open play).
Varsity match: a match with most players over 16yo and under 19yo played with Under 19 law, regardless of whether school affiliated.
Sevens match: a match played with the variations for Sevens rugby.
Full-contest rugby: a match with contested scrums of more than 3 players or lifting allowed, regardless of the age of the players.
Adult match: a match with most players over 18yo, including college matches.
No distinction is made between men’s/boys’ and women’s/girl’s matches.
No distinction is made between first-side and lower-side matches.
“Level 1 Referee” refers to a course the same or similar to World Rugby’s Introduction to Match Officiating, a full-day, non-assessed, attendance-based course which helps the novice referee to referee the basic components of the game in a practical-based environment.
“Level 2 Referee” refers to a course the same or similar to World Rugby’s The Developing Match Official, a 2-day, competency-based accreditation course which builds on the Level 1 course to help further develop the referee in a practical-based environment.
USAR will recognize courses approved by World Rugby that were taken in other countries, regardless of the age at which they were taken. However, all of the age requirements for assignments apply to YMOs initially certified elsewhere.
No one with assignment responsibility may assign their own child or close relative YMO as the referee for any full-contest rugby match, varsity match, or adult or varsity sevens match. Adopted USA Rugby Page 2 of 3 7 October 2022
Under Age 12
No-one under 12 years old (yo) may serve in any capacity as a match official. This includes as a touch judge (TJ) or assistant referee (AR). Age 12 The minimum age for taking any USAR course leading to certification as an AR is 12yo.
The minimum age for taking any USAR reduced course leading to certification to officiate limitedcontest age-grade rugby is 12yo.
The minimum age to serve as a TJ or AR for any type of tackle rugby is 12yo.
The minimum age to referee limited-contest age-grade rugby with players up to one’s own age is 12yo (meaning a 12yo can referee U12 and U10 without scrums of more than a front row or lifting).
Referees may have and assignors may appoint their own child or close relative over 12yo as a TJ or AR.
Age 13
For those having already taken the appropriate courses and served as an AR for matches at any level or referee for limited-contest age-grade matches totaling at least 20 hours, with documentation, the minimum age for taking the Level 1 Referee course is reduced to 13yo. This is permitted but not encouraged.
Age 14
The minimum age for taking any USAR course equivalent to Level 1 Referee is 14yo for those without sufficient prior rugby-officiating experience.
Age 15
The minimum age to serve as a referee for full-contest matches is 15yo., A 15yo with sufficient experience may referee up to the U16 age group.
Age 16
Training for concussion recognition is required for anyone assigned as a referee from 16yo. The minimum age to serve as referee for a varsity or adult sevens match is 16yo. Assignors may appoint their own child or close relative to referee limited-contest age-grade rugby up to the child’s age once the referee is 16yo (meaning a 16yo refereeing up to U16).
Age 17
SafeSport training is required for anyone assigned as a referee once they are 17yo.
The minimum age to serve as referee for a full-contest rugby match at the varsity or adult level is 17yo. The minimum age for taking any USAR course equivalent to Level 2 Referee is 17yo.
Recommendations
Young people interested in serving as match officials should start by taking the appropriate courses and then serving as touch judges and assistant referees. They should then progress through limited-contest age-grade matches with players younger than themselves. It is advisable that their early matches be with players their own age or older be sevens or other reduced format.
Festival and tournament situations with many other match officials around are the best ways for YMOs to begin their officiating career.
Even for officiating limited-contest age-grade rugby, completion of the Level 1 Referee course is preferred over a reduced course.
YMOs should be frequently reminded that they have the power to stop a match in case of abusive behavior by teams, team personnel, or spectators. They should also be advised that they can declare themselves unable to continue for any reason and allow another official to complete the match.
LRO presidents, allocations officers, and head referees for tournaments have special obligations when dealing with their own children, young relatives, and the children of close friends. They must not pressure those children to accept assignments, especially games for which they are not ready.
The Development Working Group of the Referee and Laws Committee has drafted more detailed guidance for the training, assignment, and protection of YMOs. USAR encourages all Local Referee Organizations, State Based Organizations directly assigning match officials, and all other match organizers assigning match officials to incorporate that guidance into their procedures.
Background for the USA Rugby Policy on Young Match Officials (YMOs)
Raising of the issue The USA Rugby (USAR) staff have fielded questions regarding the minimum allowed age for match officials and complaints about the use of match officials considered by some to be too young for an assigned match. This issue has been raised multiple times over several years and the Referee and Laws Committee (RLC) had made earlier attempts to create a minimum-age policy. Based on staff concerns and awareness by RLC members of the lingering issue, the RLC tasked its Match Management Working Group (MMWG) to consider if USAR should adopt a policy on minimum ages for YMOs and, if so, what that policy should be. The MMWG investigated the practices for rugby in other nations, the practices of other sports in the USA, insurance and employment-law considerations, and the experience of some rugby YMOs. The working group also relied on its own extensive experience as match officials, coaches of match officials, assigners, and some having been YMOs themselves. A draft policy from the MMWG was then reviewed by the RLC, the USAR Board, and the Board’s Audit and Risk Committee (A&R), with changes made, before final adoption by the USAR Board on 7 October 2022, effective immediately. This background note is based on one provided to the A&R for their review.
World Rugby and Practice in other countries
World Rugby recommends, but does not strictly require, a minimum age of 14yo to take the Level 1 Referee course. The Level 1 course is a prerequisite for serving as a referee (center) in a full contact rugby match played under adult rugby law for 15s, 7s, or 10s; or according to the Under-19 Variations. Shorter and simpler courses may allow someone to serve as an assistant referee or to referee more restricted age-grade contests that eliminate some parts of the game such as contested scrums or lifting of teammates. We did not engage in detailed study of how rugby YMOs are managed in other countries. We did learn of the absolute minimum age for YMOs, even for youth or age-grade tackle matches, in several Tier 1 rugby nations. For England it is 14yo, for Scotland 15yo, for South Africa 16yo, and for Australia 13yo. All these countries have additional restrictions set nationally or regionally regarding the age of the YMO compared to the age of the players. Some areas don’t allow anyone under 18yo to officiate adult or even high-school level matches. For non-youth matches, Ireland sets a minimum age of 18yo and most UK counties set a minimum age of 17yo. In England, one must take a full two-day course to officiate any tackle match with players over 14yo.
Practice in other sports
To our surprise, the age-related policy requirements of many organizations are not clearly laid out online. Most of the policies described here for other sports we learned through telephone and email interviews with administrators in national offices. They were quite generous with their time and explaining their experiences. USA [ice] Hockey has no formal age restrictions but require their districts to comply with all state labor laws regarding minors. SafeSport must be taken by those over 17yo and background checks are needed for those over 18yo. They have had YMOs as young as 11yo covering U8 and U6 matches. A match has from two to four officials on the ice and there is always at least one adult. There is a general recommendation that YMOs cover matches at least one age grade lower and some districts will only assign YMOs to matches at least two age grades lower. YMOs below the legal working age get only kit. Soccer has two organizations that certify or use YMOs, the US Soccer Federation (USSF) and the American Youth Soccer Association (AYSO). USSF has a minimum age of 13yo for certification, which was set in 2018. Before that there was no formal age requirement and problems were reported. USSF does not directly control assigning and has no prohibition on certified officials covering matches with players older than themselves. Member organizations of USSF usually do have additional age restrictions. AYSO has officials as young as 10yo and a strict requirement that officials be at least two years older than the age group for the players. They try to enforce that two-year gap for ARs as well but are not as strict. AYSO covers matches with players as young as pre-school, so a 10yo referee is likely to be covering players that are U5, U6, or U7. Little League International has a minimum age of 12yo for umpires. Those under 14yo can only be unpaid volunteers. YMOs are used in crews of at least two umpires and are always paired with adults. A 12yo umpire would only be assigned to U8 and U10 matches. Their training for YMOs included explicity units on ways for them to manage adult coaches. Games that count toward advancing to the international tournament only have umpires over 18yo.
Insurance
We inquired of the National Association of Sports Officials (NASO) and the USAR staff if there were any clauses in the liability insurance policies for match officials related to the age of an official. Both reported that insurance coverage for match officials was not affected by the age of the official. All of the administrators I spoke to for other sports said there were no limitations from their insurers. That is not to say that the age and preparation of a match official would be irrelevant in case of legal action against the official or assigning entity.
Employment Law
In making its recommendations, the MMWG did not consider employment law related to minors and its variations among the several states as a limitation. (A summary of those was prepared by the US Department of Labor and can be found at: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/state/child-labor.) Some states have specific looser restrictions for employment involving educational or recreational activities. There is a grey area for sports officials serving as volunteers and treating their volunteer service as a recreational activity, rather than as employment. Until rugby union allowed professionalism, no match officials were paid for game service, and it was definitely considered a recreational activity. Many Little League Baseball and soccer leagues still do not have paid officials, though some of those do cover some expenses or provide equipment. We do not know if one could support a position that unpaid young match officials were engaged in a recreational activity while older paid match officials were employed, while both were officiating at the same event.
Change of close-relationship policies to guidelines
The RLC raised in its discussion making the restrictions on assignment of YMOs by those with close relationships guideline, rather than policy. The MMWG intentionally included this as a policy recommendation. Our concern was not based on the typical reasoning that conflicts of interest should be avoided because they may afford unfair advantages. Rather, parents (and those in similar positions) have been known to push their offspring into matches for which the YMO wasn’t ready to both the discomfort of the YMO and the dissatisfaction of the players. Simply, those closest can’t be objective. On a practical basis, we felt that when close relatives of the referee were used as touch judges or assistant referees the risk/reward ratio was much less troubling.
Mark (Tigg) Handel, Chair, Match Management Working Group, October 2022