To ref or not to ref...............?

As mentioned in my Blog bio, this year I have decided to pursue refereeing on the BJJ circuit and to make myself the best referee as I possibly can. I made the decision at the start of the year after becoming a Grade 3 Area referee for the UMA; the UMA points system on the grappling and groundfighting events are the same as BJJ rules and always one for setting new challenges, I decided to apply myself to BJJ refereeing.

Refereeing is a thankless task; in all the years of refereeing I have been sworn at and verbally abused on many occasions and even threatened with physical violence on one occasion. With fifteen years experience working the doors, I've developed a pretty thick skin and can deal with over heated coaches and players and supporters and even irate parents, but for some refs, the abuse can and often puts them off refereeing full stop, which is truly sad for the sport and for the individual.

However, at the very same events where one is being harangued and abused, there are odd slivers of humanity and gratitude that makes refereeing worthwhile; these nuggets of salvation come in the shape of competitors actually coming over to thank you for refereeing their fights and God forbid they even take a walk on the wild side and shake your hand at the same time!

I will be at the Manchester Open tomorrow to help out on the tables and throw myself into the thick of it with the white belts and hopefully I'll still be in one piece to write again come Sunday night!

The sport needs well qualified referees and as a BJJ player myself, I feel I am giving something back to the BJJ community that allowed me to compete many many years ago as a white belt in 1999 in Los Angeles and the following years in the UK and also as a blue belt and purple belt.

In addition, I will keep you all posted on my experiences and thoughts on refereeing, as well as passing on any updates from referee courses I will be attending in the future and I hope by reading and following my posts online, I can help inspire at least one person to step into the middle and be a referee at what ever level.

Photo credit - May 2010 UMA Openweight No Gi Groundfighting event. Photo by Gen.