With the resumption of league rugby post Covid it is clear that there is a significant shortage of referees to fulfil all the games we're so desperate to put on.

This seems to be very much a national issue, but we're very conscious of the problem here in Staffordshire, where we're struggling to find refs for anything other than first team games. You can read more here: https://staffsrfu.com/shortage-of-referees/

In response we're trying to identify new volunteers from all clubs to step up to train and be coached as referees who could relatively quickly take on matches at their home club. At Lichfield we're also lucky to have our own Referees Academy (run by Shaun Godfrey) who can help coach and mentor any new recruits.

So if you are (or know of someone who is), an ex-player, a coach, a parent, a student, someone on a DofE scheme, ..... and would like to take up the challenge, please get in touch asap