Youth Competition Aids
Youth Competition Aids
Youth
The content of this page is primarily for the use of members of the Ulster Society of Rugby Football Referees(USRFR: The Society)
This area relates to the administration and support for society members whilst involved in Youth rugby.
It is difficult to accurately correlate the percentage of our resources used on age grade rugby as a significant number of our members would “double job” on a Saturday and do an age grade game in the morning, and then undertake some role in the afternoon be that as a TJ or even a second game.
Historically we would be comfortable in estimating Saturday mornings take in the region of 33% of our available resources between the schools and club structures.
A reminder to referees;
- Check with host club before travel.
- Do not enter players changing rooms unless accompanied by an appropriate adult
- Avoid personal hands-on contact with players.
- Know your laws and regs in relation to age grade play. Game time, 40 point rule, hand offs, no advantage off foul play, no advantage from a scrum collapse.
- Especially with the lower age grades it can be very helpful to ask the coaches about the experience level of their players – you may have several players with varied, little or no competitive experience.
- Be prepared to adapt your style to the game in front of you. Be aware that this may be the first USRFR Ref for many players, so your signals won’t mean as much as normal – so perhaps more verbal teacher mode than policeman.
- Be prepared to enjoy your match time and to show it.
- Remember always – NOTHING supersedes player safety, Period.
Child Welfare
The protection of young persons when in association with our sport is paramount.
To assist in this the IRFU, the Ulster Branch and the Society have a number of support mechanisms in place.
Society members may seek guidance and support from
Our rep to the Youth Committee is also available for more generic issues:
Michael Cairnduff:
07880 743875
The Branch Welfare Officer is:
Kerry Spence:
You can view IRFU’s Safeguarding details Policy here:
The USRFR Code of Conduct and Policy on Child Protection can be found here: Members of the Society now complete this via “Rugby Connect” but for clarity the policy remains the same. The wellbeing of the young person is paramount.
USRFR Code of Conduct & Child Protection Policy
Health & Safety
There is NO Head Injury Assessment (HIA) in domestic rugby.
For guidance in suspected concussion management of a player, view:
The role of the match official in the application and administration of “Recognise & Remove” is vital in the protection of player safety. The role of the referee in this process is to be aware of the signs and symptoms of concussion, ensure players exhibiting those signs and symptoms are removed from the field of play, and report any incidents.
Effective November 2025, any significant injury, especially including Recognise and Remove incidents, must be reported through the ‘Game Incident’ option in the Game Management section of the SportLomo App. Significant injury may be characterised as injuries that involve formal medical attention, ambulance or hospitalisation.
A short video tutorial on how to use this feature is available here.
Any queries thereafter will be handled by the designated personnel in the IRFU Medical Department or Provincial Branch Office.
Should you have any queries please get in touch with the Referee Development Manager in your province.
In addition, if a match official has been forced to ensure a player’s welfare by his or her removal, the referee should report the matter to the Hon. Sec. of the Society, detailing club, player name and level/type of reluctance to comply with directive: hon.sec.usrfr@gmail.com
Competition Regulations
The referee aid to competition regulations may be found here.
Branch Youth Competition Regulations
Competition regulations specific to female youth may be found here.
A reminder that the 40 point rule is in the Youth regs and must be applied by match officials. More information may be found here
Global law trials around the 50:22, and ‘in goal drop out’ may be found here.
Guidance around Tackle height changes may be found here.
Guidance around the introduction of law changes around no scrum at FK, Croc roll clear outs and offside in front of kick. May be found here and herecdn.ulster.rugby/sites/default/files/2026-06/Croc%20Roll%20Updates.pdf">here.
Guidance on law adjustments for the 25/26 season may be found here.
Club Locations
For help in location of clubs, view the “I” information icon on your assignment in Sportlomo
Club Contacts
A list of club contacts will have been sent to Society members by the Hon Sec. of the Society. Youth contacts for your particular assignment may be found by viewing the “I” information icon on your assignment in Sportlumo or via the Branch team contact.
For Society members, 29th August our Hon Sec transmitted the latest available contact details for schools and clubs within compliance to GDPR. Protocol would dictate that your host reaches out to you prior to your fixture. However, we offer these contacts as a back up to ensure the fixture is live before you travel. Refer to the Email for more details.
Team Sheets
Team sheets are required for all youth fixtures.
When receiving a team sheet please ensure it is:
- Readable
- Has a full given and family name (i.e. no initials, nicknames or single surname/given name).
- There is a name for each player.
- The shirt numbers match the names.
- ALL players trained as front row replacements must be identified on the team sheet prior to kick off with the position they are covering.
- You retain the sheet in a safe place for two weeks.
If 1, 2 or 3 are not in effect the team are in contravention of the competition’s regulations and are liable to sanction.
Sanctions are significant for the clubs and are designed to educate them not to impede the system. When there is an allegation of an illegal player participating for a team it is these lists which are requested by the Branch.
The same list is your reference when submitting a yellow or red card report and if reporting injuries. Referees are urged to get the lists BEFORE they allow the game to commence.
Discipline
Yellow card incidents (single card events) are no longer recorded at Branch and the match official takes no further action. A red card action following two YC incidents with the same player is still to be reported.
Red card report advice may be viewed by in the Discipline section of this website.