On the Jury at the IKF European Championships A different perspective on European competition from Steve Wright: As you may or may not know I went out to the Korfball European Championships in Holland recently where Paul Jeanes and Steve Jones were refereeing, where Dan Pratt represented Scotland and Karen James represented Wales. My role was on the Jury, but it wasn't just the case of deciding who was guilty or not guilty...... The role of the Jury is to ensure that the games and the tournament run in line with the IKF rules, to brief team managers about the tournament, to be the middleman in getting teams to decide on their shirt colours for games (with so many countries with red shirts Wales, England, Portugal, Belgium etc it can really be a bit of a battlefield). Teams have to hand in a teamsheet 30 mins before a game starts naming their starting 8 and who is in attack and defence. The Jury ensure that the teams laid out are correct as per team sheet, we manage all time outs and substitutions made throughout the game and print match reports after the game for the captains to sign. The main job is to watch the games and record who scored what goal (a bit like Paul's stats on a Sunday). If you have ever looked on the IKF website at the live scores coming in as the game happens, that's me as I'm inputting those details as the game goes on. Going back to the guilty or not guilty bit, the Jury are also the on the Disciplinary Panel for any problems during the tournament such a dealing with yellow and red cards. There were 7 Jury in all, 2 from Holland, 2 from Belgium, 1 from Czech Republic, 1 from Hungary and me. We all worked with the 12 referees (Paul and Steve included). I am always seated beside the pitch slap bang on the halfway line, and therefore being on the Jury is the best seat in the house to watch a game of korfball. The whole tournament was very enjoyable and with all 4 Home Nations out there it was a bit like watching a league game over here but at a much higher level. The whole tournament ended in the traditional Netherlands v Belgium Final. With 4 of the Jury from these countries and therefore not able to take part, it meant that the 3 of us remaining had to step up. With the most experience I was chosen to be the Jury Chairman. Paul was assistant referee (linesman) and Steve one of the reserve referees who ensured that the team benches behaved. The Final was held in the Ahoy Stadium in Rotterdam with about 6,500 spectators and various TV cameras filming. It was as usual a high energy / physical game and 3 yellow cards were issued. The Belgiums came close to an upset but as usual the Dutch took 1st place. Being on the Jury has led me to meet so many people from all over the world. At the European Championships I got to catch up with some old friends and make some new ones as well. It's the World Championships next year in China but I'm not sure if I'll go out for it. Coming up in January there are the Europa Cup Finals in Budapest, and Europa Shield in Warsaw which are competitions I have done in the past. I am also back in Holland on the Jury in March for the Under 16 Youth Talent Cup. If you like watching korfball I can really recommend being on the Jury.Story by Jane | Updated by Andy · 15 years ago
