Let's get the straight to the point - I made a mistake, I missed a half caught. One of my first tries for Ireland was from half so I know what it's like to get caught up in the moment, make that mistake as a player and get away with it. So why did I miss it - a fairly simple error that someone of my experience should have spotted? The biggest problem is I think like a player and not like a ref. I'm not officious and I try to let the game flow - okay for training sessions and friendly matches but not ideal for a final I guess. Like it or hate it that's the way I am, I'm learning and I'm working on it. Why is this relevant? Because I made a choice to let players that should know better play, do their thing and be silly buggers! In the critical phase of play there were 3 off the ball incidents that I could have, and probably should have, blown up and penalised. Pulling on the arms of defenders, running blocking lines, obstruction - I saw it guys. Rather than be a referee and stop the game I acted like a player, kept an eye on it to make sure it didn't get out of hand or interfere too much with the flow of the game. It backfired on me as it did interfere, indirectly - whilst I was watching that I missed the half caught call!

I looked over to my side line official but all I could see was a crowd of people jumping around, gesticulating and screaming - making it impossible to make out my assistant. Maybe I should have stopped the game to consult, like a referee should. Again this was my choice to allow the game to flow - I didn't see it, I couldn't call it. The players up to no good in back play were getting on with the game, so did I. A couple of plays later the try was scored, drop off decided, game over, season over, cup won and bring on the abuse!

Now I turn from a bad ref to a massive hypocrite to talk about keeping calm at the end of a match and considering your actions / comments as I am guilty of more than my fair share of inappropriate behaviour and facetious remarks, again I'm learning and changing and now preaching / teaching. When you think you're venting you are actually attacking, not thinking about what the 'victim' may be feeling. Apologies are appreciated and welcome, it's good when others admit their mistakes, but the solitary one I got did not heal the wounds. My bad (again) as I was feeling low before the game. Others have their families, swarms of children, team mates and friends to turn to for support. For some of us our loved ones and families are spread out over several countries and thousands of miles. I had been looking forward to this night with the Touch family, but went home feeling more alone than I can remember. If anyone felt hard done by or aggrieved after the match I can assure you that nobody left that venue feeling worse than I did.

Time passes, I'm over it, everyone will get over it and we'll all move on to the next one. Importantly I'll learn from the experience and I hope others will too. Yes I made a big mistake, I made others too. I interpreted things differently to players, I didn't see things, I saw some things that I let go. But I was there, with 5 other refs, giving up my Saturday night so you could enjoy yourselves. I believe that, in the main, we did a good job and contributed to an exciting final that went to drop off. Let's be clear about something - my one missed call did not decide the outcome of the 43 minute game. I did not drop a single ball, throw any bad passes or miss any touches. Both teams played well and could have won it, it wasn't the fault of any one of the refs that they didn't. There were 4 teams in action last night, all of which I have played and trained with, many of whom I consider friends and all integral parts of the wonderful Touch community. Thanks to one call and a lot of heightened emotions a community that I, for once, did not feel part of.

USA Touch Nationals & International Club Open

Details are out for the USA Touch Nationals & International Club Open and looking to see if there is any interest to either come along and join the Jamaican Touch team, or enter one of your own. If so then please get back to me as soon as possible for more information / planning.

When

October 11th – 14th, 2018

Where

Chula Vista, California, USA - the 155 acre state of the art sports venue that is the elite athlete training centre used by US Olympics, Paralympics and Rugby squads.

What

Biggest and best Touch tournament west of the Atlantic. 3 days of competition against the best teams in the USA and invitational teams from the likes of Cayman, Chile and a Pete Walters led NZ group. Men's, Women's & Mixed categories.

It's also less than 30 minutes from the Mexican border so we might pop down there for a day out and quick game!

How much

$1500 for team registration, so about €100 per person
Flights to LAX (from Ireland) usually go for about €600-700
Accomodation - sadly they do a Stay to Play format, 2 options this year:
i, Stay at the nearby Marriott hotel, about 2 miles from the pitches (maybe Iain can sort out a deal!)
ii, Stay on the site with a fully catered option (limited availability) for $140 per night - lots of benefits
Playing and social gear if you come play for Jamaica - probably about €50-75

More details / links

USA Touch event page
Chula Vista
Catered option
Not updated recently but you can check the Jamaican Touch site for past pics / stories/

It's a lot of fun and who wouldn't want some Californian sunshine before winter sets in!! Drop me a mail if interested or want to know more.

If you know me then email or Facebook me, otherwise use the Contact page to send a message.

We are delighted to offer you the chance to download and print out your free 2018 Calendar, on behalf of Jamaican Touch.

We've gone all out with the options, so you can either have a monthly one with great memories all year long, or a nice and simple one page full year version. The latter comes in 3 options: Jamaican, Irish or USA depending on which public holidays you wish highlighted. There are also a few dates to note for the year ahead added so here's hoping it will be a good one!!

Simply click on, or save as, the links below and then they are yours to do as you wish: print them, laminate them, get real calendars made, whatever floats your boat 🙂

We hope you enjoy them and wish you and yours all the best for 2018, hopefully see you on the pitch somewhere!!

2018-yearly-calendar

2018-monthly-calendar

You know that feeling when you love something but you are frightened to share your passion with others in case they just don't get it! This was my 5th trip to US Nationals and the one I felt the most uneasy going into, with a new location in California and having persuaded half a dozen of my compatriots to embark on the journey too. Having been away from the European scene for 4 years it is hard to know where the standards are at in the different regions, so would they be disappointed? I'm used to looking like an idiot (just check the photos!) but I never like disappointing people, so I was more worried about people not having a good time. I know, a break from the Irish rain for a trip to California for 3 days of Touch - what could possibly go wrong!!

We all made our way over with different agendas; catching up with family, checking out air shows and taking in the like of Kings of Leon and Coldplay, generally enjoying some of what San Diego, San Francisco and LA has to offer. The real tone for the trip was set on Tuesday with a bout of Wedding Crashers - something to scratch off the bucket list! Wednesday night, less than 12 hours before we face a fit, fast, organised and drilled Chile team, we finally get to all meet each other as a team for the first time!

Our hopes of an early morning training session were somewhat hampered by a 7:50am referee duty, so we would have to hit the ground running and learn as we go! Unsurprisingly Chile were too strong and, just like last year, gave us a good hiding - Big Brian getting us off the mark with our first try of the tourney!! We had a lot more fun playing against Florida and it was more the kind of game we hoped for last year. An honourable draw was the final result although we all know Stroebs' decision to score 'under the posts' should have cost them dear as the Happy Dragon got to him before he grounded the ball 🙂 Dylan ('Joe 90' or 'Wheels') clearly forgot how to pass and notched up all 4 of our tries to get his account under way. The final match was again against familiar characters as we disappointingly lost a close one to Cayman, knowing that we could and should have done better - Brian and Dylan adding to their tallies and Tonka getting in on the act too.

The hunt for a good meal proved almost as illusive as our quest for victory as the intended 'cosy little steak house' turned out to be in a fancy resort with the steaks starting at $50! Luckily stopping for gas uncovered closing pizza and Thai restaurants so we could sit outside and enjoy our impromptu 'feast' in peace!

The next morning the real lessons began with our run out against Galaxy New Zealand, with the legendary Walters family and the impeccable up and coming talent NZ has to offer. Joe 90 bagged himself a couple more tries, and the Broken Dragon (proving to be very unbroken) was unlucky that the attempted assist was called back for a touch pass (that way we don't have to mention that she scored on the 5m line!!). The lunchtime game was another one that got away as we threw away an excellent first half performance to a resurgent Portland. When decisions appeared to go against us, the tiredness and heat took over with us losing control and shape at crucial times. Dylan bagged himself another hat-trick and Kerri notched up our first Ladies try sneaking in a well worked gap in the corner. With the cancellation of the late round most were free to go to the beach to soak in the sea and have some fun, whilst the twins and I stayed on to do some more reffing.

A delightful BBQ at Brian's cousins in Carlsbad was a much appreciated refuelling evening, especially as they were kind enough to do our laundry too!!

Day 3 was looking likely to be a repeat of Day 2 with a semi-final against Galaxy and a probable 3rd place play-off against Portland. The prospect of another Pete Walters manufactured lesson (even if he is only still at 60%) was a bit much for our 10 player squad with probably the highest average age of all the teams (including the senior division) at just over 40! Thankfully the understanding Kiwis allowed us to forfeit the result and give a chance to get our friends a run out, as everyone really wants to play for Jamaica 🙂 Gary was able to take a break from Coaching duties and show what his old friends Patti and Jam were missing out on! Tilly got a change from playing Ladies and enjoyed a mixed run out, but Flip passed up the chance to play, choosing instead to rest up from his busy ref schedule. Florida brought way too many players (18 - that's 3 teams Jamaican style!) so were able to give Anton another 'cap' for Jamaica, as well as debuts and pitch time for Max, Angel and big Double D. Not quite as star struck today we were able to enjoy the match a lot more, hopefully the Happy Dragon will long remember her try scoring moment as she breezed past the NZ defence with ease! Laura also got off the mark thanks to a lovely weighted pass from the Plank that I did well to avoid.

Our last match was a real hum-dinger and undoubtedly our best performance of the tournament, sadly going down 3-2 in the end to Portland with several opportunities going begging, justly and otherwise, in an enjoyable match. In many ways the best thing about it was myself, Tilly and the Twins rushing off to ref a kids game straight after, not leaving time to dwell on what could have been. The young whipper snappers rushing around all over the place having fun, then shooting over to another pitch to play a drop off, reminding us that this is an amazing sport and is there to be enjoyed by all.

The few of us that stayed on to watch the finals were treated to some great action. Galaxy NZ narrowly holding off Chile in a well fought contest leading to a memorable Haka (Chile saved their infamous dance for the medal ceremony!). The Ladies final produced the best match with Portland winning against last years champs San Diego in a thrilling drop off. We like to think that showing Juanita the Galway flyer boosted her confidence enough to get them over the line!! Cayman did well to get a couple of 2nd places with Galaxy DC and LA proving too strong in the Mixed and Men's categories in the last games before relaxation could commence.

The last night was a subdued affair for us with the US drinking laws meaning our Joe 90 try machine couldn't enjoy a drink at the after party. It was more of a prize giving than a kangaroo court with the food, sun and exertions all taking their toll on several players, the explanations for things like plastic cacti, a jar of erasers and porridge yogurt will remain with us, and after a quick drive to San Diego and back the reserves were drained to put the lid on a memorable week or so.

Was it perfect? Not quite to be honest. The choices of hotels may have been more affordable (and much nicer) than Disney, but the separation of the teams meant there were several people we barely saw. USA Touch is a rapidly growing organisation, with a lot of people working very hard to move it in the right direction. One of the big initiatives this year has been the efforts of people like Miah Williams and the ref clinics all around the country, that will help establish a base for the future. Sadly it meant for a lot of new refs that had to hit the ground running, who could often have benefited from more understanding players, but will hopefully stick with it and come back stronger. Hopefully the scheduling can be fine tuned for next time as well as 6am in a hotel 25 minutes away is not the best time to find out you are on the pitch to ref at 7!

Was it worth it? Definitely yes! It's a fantastic opportunity for the Jamaicans to play a great game that they love but sadly don't get to play at home, especially as I have now moved away. I know the 3 girls, and several others back on the island that would have loved to come, would be real assets to the game given the opportunity to play more. As for the Irish experience it was a rare chance for the old farts to play competitive mixed games, the girls had a blast and Joe 90 scored 11 tries! It's funny the twins have been playing Ultimate Frisbee in Jamaica for about 4 years and most of the other players till call them Twinnie 1 & 2 as they are too lazy to learn their names. During this tournament I never once heard the Irish players mix them up - sadly though they couldn't tell the difference between Louise and Emily!!

Will we be back? Hell Yeah!! Hopefully next year we can get some more Irish players and teams and come over to keep supporting our American cousins and next time more of us will know what to expect!

So thanks again to the likes of OJ, Jean, Pam, Jay, Allyson, Miah and all the others for their tireless efforts to put on a good show, the staff at the Hyatt Place, Vista (especially Yolanda and Tasha) for putting up with us, and to the fellow competitors that share in the fun of the game and make memories that will last a lifetime 🙂

For more pictures from the event click here to check out our Facebook album