Together with the RFL, the team at ACME Whistles is shining a spotlight on inspirational referees from around the world.
With roots in rugby union, then finding his calling as a rugby league referee, 56-year-old Malcolm Holmes is now a long-serving pillar of the southern England rugby community.
He’s reffed over 700 games of rugby union and is coming up to his 350th league game.
As a community first responder for his local ambulance service, Malcolm took up the role of first aid at his son’s Saturday union games.
It was there he first tried his hand at refereeing a union match.
“I was at a game where the ref rang up five minutes before and said: ‘I ain’t turning up.’ So, I ended up doing a pitched battle between two Gloucester second teams.”
But Holmes will openly admit, he’s a bigger fan of league at heart.
“I'm unusual in this part of the country, because in the south it is very much rugby union.
“I'll be honest – I think had I lived in the north I’d have done league; I prefer rugby league and I've got much more involved in it over the last few years.”
Since then, he’s spent a decade refereeing rugby league games all over England and Wales, including university games and the Southern Conference League.
When he started, Malcolm was refereeing mainly on his home turf. “We had very few refs in the southwest,” he explains.
The first game he refereed officially was the All Golds under 16s against Northampton under 16s. The All Golds had just made it to league one, he reminisces.
After that, he says: “I was right in the deep end” with an All Golds reserves versus Bristol Sonics.
“I never went for the professional ranks because it wasn't what I wanted to do.
“There's always that dichotomy for people like me - do I go and run touch for championship games and division one games, or do I actually go out and ref in the community?
“I'll be honest, I don't mind if I'm doing a friendly down the road with a couple of the universities. There is a need to keep good refs in the community.”
Holmes isn’t just a referee; he runs courses for players who want to try their hand at refereeing and does a bit of coaching too.
“After a game between Bath and the Welsh under 18s academy, the Bath players asked if I wouldn't mind going down and doing a coaching session. I said: ‘Well yeah, course I will!’
“As a referee, I see it in a different light to a coach.
“It's been interesting especially with the universities, a lot of what you're doing as a ref is almost coaching players.
“A lot of the boys on those teams are playing at a good level, they're playing for Conference and division one teams, but half the lads have never played the game before. That’s quite difficult to ref.”
Although Malcolm hasn’t been able to run a refereeing course in-person since Covid, he’s looking to resurrect them again this year.
“They’re for players and coaches as much as training referees”, he explains. “The course makes them better players; they see it from the ref’s point of view.
“It's about the laws but also how the ref thinks, how they prepare for the game ahead.
“Some of the coaches do it so if they can't get a ref, they can step in, but it also makes them better coaches, with more empathy on the side-lines.”
Career highlights for Holmes have included refereeing the BUCS 2019 semi-final game, with Leeds Becket’s team consisting of nine semi-pro players.
“The standard of the game was really high. You’d have expected Exeter to get hammered and they didn’t – it was an outstanding game.”
On top of this, Holmes was awarded the Community Referee of the Year award in 2017, by The Rugby Football League.
“That was lovely because it’s recognition from your peers, you go Old Trafford and get a ticket for the Grand Final. That was really nice, I really appreciated that,” he recalls.
“I did the women’s south final this year, and that was a real highlight,” continues Holmes.
“Cardiff played the London Broncos and it was nice because the RFL people were down there.
“The women’s game has only really taken off in the last two or three years in the south, and suddenly you’ve got six or seven teams – two of a really high standard.”
Being a community referee isn’t without its challenges, Malcolm explains.
“For a league ref down south, you're probably struggling to do more than 30 games per season.
“University teams suffer from lots of cancellations, and teams often fold halfway through summer league seasons when students return home.
“But I love it when I come home on a Saturday or a Wednesday night and I'm buzzing because we've had a good day out.
“It doesn't matter what level you've reffed at, if the game is a good game and it's competitive. One of the best games I ever had to ref was the lowest standard, because they were all totally new.
“It was competitive, really even, and you watched the boys learning throughout that game. Then when you reffed a few weeks later, you saw the improvements."
Malcolm goes on to explain his motivation, and why he’s stuck at refereeing and coaching for so long.
“I do this for a pure love of doing it -pure enjoyment.
“But if the game continues to grow, we also need to develop coaches and refs, some for the community and some for higher things.
“If you're going to develop a game you must have all the people. You can have all the players, but the people that don't always get seen keep the game going.”
With rugby running through his family, Holmes says, “I remember my grandfather saying: ‘here you are son, there's your ACME Thunderer, don't use anything else.’
“And in truth, I have never used anything else! It’s on a lanyard that is hanging by threads.”
For anyone interested in getting into refereeing, Malcolm shares some pearls of wisdom.
“I’d always recommend starting with a course and finding a mentor. Try running as a Touch Judge for a qualified ref to help grow your confidence and learn the game.
“We support each other; we don't want a young person to be put off doing it if they're not quite ready.
“The women’s game is great for new referees. It’s often more about skill rather than pure muscle. They’re great games to watch because they're so quick.
“If you start reffing quick games you'll develop to referee a higher level game. Just get everything in you can!”
Looking to the future, Holmes doesn’t plan on letting rugby slip to the side lines.
“I'll be 57 this year, I'm at an age where the legs will give up eventually and I will find something else to do within the game.
“The RFL doesn’t have a lot of on-the-ground support, so the next discussion I’ll have will be more courses for younger refs.
“Because of Covid, there were lots of retirements. I'm trying to encourage some of the uni boys to do courses.
“They've got a ref if they need one on the day, and they can then develop and take games. I can do some of the second team games while I'm still hobbling around.”
