Tuesday 1st December 2015.
After an early start we headed into the heart of Dubai to get a feel for the city and experience a few of the many amazing features that were on display.
We visited the Jumeirah Beach Residence area with fellow referees from USA, Canada and Ireland and had a walk around. Following lunch we experienced a brief swim in the Arabian Gulf before returning to the hotel to be allocated our refereeing kit for the week.
Later in the evening we explored only a small portion of the enormous Dubai Mall. While in the mall we wandered through the Dubai Mall Aquarium and also witnessed the Fountains at Dubai Mall in action.
Every attraction that we had the good fortune of seeing was absolutely amazing! We continued to be blown away by the incredible city that is Dubai.
This was followed by a quick dinner and early sleep.
Wednesday 2nd December 2015.
Most of the referees have now arrived at the Silicon Oasis Premier Inn – the tournament hotel for the referees. We spent a good portion of the morning mingling with fellow referees before heading to Wellington College (yet another enormous feature of Dubai) for the tournament briefing and physical training session.
Bernie attended the coaches briefing earlier in the morning before the referees arrived and had the pleasure of hearing from a number of the amazing people involved with the preparation and execution of the tournament. This included an introduction by Paddy O’Brien.
Following the tournament briefing the referees were taken for a training session to prepare for refereeing in the Dubai heat! This was an awesome session that tested our response to scenarios on the rugby field. During this session Bernie had the opportunity to pretend to abuse referees and players to test the referees response to such situations. It should also be noted that Bernie was witnessed to be running during this session! Talk about going above and beyond as a coach! Well done Bernie.
At the end the day the match officials involved in the tournament we taken on a boat Tour through Dubai. This was an awesome experience that allowed us as referees to get to know each other and enjoy each others company. Tomorrow we begin the tournament with Jamie set to referee approximately 5 games and Aaron approximately 4.
Now to get a decent sleep before tomorrows rugby!
Regards,
Bernie, Jamie and Aaron
