George Selwood is a rugby match official with the RFU’s Professional Game Match Official Team where he currently operates in the English and European professional leagues alongside the HSBC World Sevens Series.
The experts at ACME Whistles were able to grab an exclusive interview with George to get to know the referee behind the whistle.
Name: George Selwood
Age: 27
Height: 6ft 2” which has its advantages – you can maybe see a bit more!
What do you do to keep fit? I work in gyms as well as refereeing, so I try to maintain good cardiovascular fitness. That is either through classes or on a bike, but I also do a bit of strength training. I’m naturally quite skinny, despite being tall so I like to try and put on a bit of muscle to look at least a little bit like the guys on the pitch 😊.
Where do you live? I live in Abingdon, but I grew up in Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire.
How many years have you refereed? I officially did my course when I was 14, when I was allowed to, but I remember refereeing my first game when I was 11. It was a dad’s v kids’ game and I got thrown into it. I had always fancied refereeing so that was a good start for me.
How did you get started as a referee? I started playing rugby when I was seven, which was in 2003 just after the World Cup, but I’ve always been interested in refereeing and have always found that part of the game interesting. How referees make decisions, how a game can pivot depending on what decisions the ref makes, how players can react (in a good way or a bad way) to referee decisions so I think I was always ready to referee.
The dad’s v kids’ game was a good opportunity to have a run around and get feedback from the parents. From there I kept on practicing, did the course and then joined the society when I was 14/15 so I was straight into it from there.
What drew you to rugby as a sport to referee?
I joined Fullerians in Watford aged seven. My uncle was a coach for the club and my cousin played there as well as some of my school friends, so I saw it as more of a social thing at the time. I played up until I was 18 with Fullerians and by that point I’d already been refereeing seniors for three years. I’d do my senior refereeing on Saturday and then play junior rugby on Sunday. It was when I went to university that I fully focused on refereeing.
Do you think playing helped you as a referee?
A hundred per cent. My rugby coach at the time tried to get as many of us on the course as he could when we were 14. He wanted us to have more of an insight into the laws and he thought that would develop us as players – it definitely did.
Lots of us in that age group did the course. I think when you start refereeing in the senior game as well as playing at the same time you get insight and understand what the referee is looking at, you understand the process of a tackle, how to win a penalty or maybe buy a penalty as well 😊.
Do you know how many games you’ve refereed at various different levels?
I don’t know the exact amount, but I average about 50 or 60 a games each season. That’s weekends as well as mid-week games and sevens now so it can be quite busy.
What’s your split between sevens and 15s?
I’ve always enjoyed sevens, particularly in summer when it’s a bit warmer. There’s normally a good social side to the sevens as well. I’ve been very lucky this season to be put onto the HSBC World Sevens Series. The first half of the season was mainly 15s and then I joined the group in January, so the second half of the season has been more of a 50/50 split.
What’s been the biggest moment in your career so far?
That was pretty recent when I managed to get selected for the final in Hong Kong on the women’s series. It was between Australia and New Zealand. It was my first time in Hong Kong and, even though the weather maybe wasn’t as good as previous years, the crowd was still there and still buzzing.
The game was awesome. There was a score for each team, backwards and forwards, there were big calls, there were penalty tries and the drama that everyone wanted from a final. So, that was a pretty exciting game and a high point in my refereeing career.
What is the atmosphere like in Hong Kong?
It’s unbelievable. You hear all these stories, but they are just stories until you get there and get to experience it. With the sevens, they’re long days, but sometimes you get a bit of spare time, so we managed to go to the infamous south stand, under cover to skip the 4.5hr queue and we had a look around. The music, the smells, the party atmosphere of the south stand is incredible. There’s nothing like it anywhere else.
What’s your favourite stadium to referee in?
The high point was in Hong Kong, but I also managed to do the sevens in London recently at Twickenham – my home stadium. The sun was out, there was a great atmosphere and it felt pretty epic.
Who is your sporting hero?
I’d have to pick someone I can relate to. Someone who is determined, but who has their own challenges and yet wants everyone to succeed. Lewis Hamilton, for example. Watching him on the F1 where he’s had challenges, but always wanted to support his sport and the people around him. He’s someone I definitely look up to.
What’s your whistle of choice?
It’s got to be the 68.5 ACME Thunderer. It’s always been my go-to. This might sound referee nerdy, but when you’re blowing a whistle you take in everything – the way you hold it, the way it feels when you blow it. It’s got to be perfect so you can’t just use any whistle 😊.
Who inspired you to pick up the whistle?
I always watched the guys on the sevens circuit and how they refereed. I knew that Wayne Barnes had gone on the series, Luke Pearce had been on there as well so that inspired me. Also, I went to university in Gloucestershire where Chris White, ex international referee, now a coach with the RFU, ran a very specific coaching group for referees. It was a referee scholarship, but not just for rugby referees – it was for any referees.
It was everyone working together to increase our transferable skills. Knowing Chris as a referee and then being able to work with him at the university and have him support me was a really good experience. It was almost surreal – meeting someone so famous, in your eyes, and then you’re working alongside them.
Do you come from a rugby family or are you the first to go down this path?
My uncle was big into rugby, as were my grandparents. My mum and dad were football supporters, but they quickly shifted me away from football because I wasn’t very good with my feet. I could run fast though so, as long as I could run with the ball in my hands and didn’t have to catch it from a long distance, I was safe. Rugby seemed like the obvious choice 😊.
If you had to pick one area the game that’s the hardest to referee what would that be?
If you think technically in 15s then there’s lots to consider when you’re looking at the lineout to the maul section. Teams look at the maul like an unstoppable force sometimes because once you get a maul rolling it’s very hard to stop legally.
There’s also loads of things that we, as refs, have to checklist off at the lineout and the maul setup and then maul defence and attack so there’s lots of things to be looking for.
Moving away from the technical area of the game, just managing players and me coming into this professional rugby area now means working with the media, commentary and the TMO which I didn’t have too much experience with previously, so it’s shifted now from your normal grass roots rugby to suddenly 15 cameras watching your decisions and it’s trying to use all the resources available to make the best decision possible.
With sevens you’ve got to work out the advantage side of things. You can see a penalty and sometimes teams would benefit very much just from having the penalty which is why you see a lot of quick penalties in sevens, rather than waiting for that advantage to play out.
More recently we’ve found that teams like to throw the ball wide and use the space available and sometimes they want to play with that advantage rather than blowing the penalty. So, it’s taking a very much subjective view on that offence, on that team and on those players and figuring out if they would like the space or if they’d prefer to freewheel it. As a ref it’s having that thought, on the spot and after just doing 14 minutes of sprinting which can be pretty tough.
What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever seen on a rugby pitch?
I refereed Hinckley in the national league two and they were known for their strong scrum. They got a bit of a scrum going and were going to go all the way and put the ball down underneath the post. Instead, they actually drove the scrum into the post and the post fell down into the goal area. Luckily no one was warming up or anything at the time. I was wracking my brain as to what to do and we ended up having to change pitch. There’s a clip of it on YouTube because they were so proud of their scrum 😊.
Who is the best player you’ve ever refereed?
You watch someone like Owen Farrell play on TV and you think he’s pretty good and then you see him in real life and it’s amazing to witness how his brain works.
Who’s the toughest player you’ve ever refereed?
I was lucky enough to referee Sarah Hunter before she retired. She would put in some huge hits and always be over the rucks in defence trying to win balls back for her teams. Her management style was always positive, and I really enjoyed working on the pitch with her.
If you were to take three things to a desert island, what would they be?
I’m always quite hungry so some snacks, I’d take a notebook to keep some notes and a skipping rope to help me stay fit.
Do you have any hidden talents?
I like to DJ a bit. I’ve always got the Bluetooth speaker on the bus and the playlist going. I reckon if I wasn’t a referee, I’d definitely work in music.
Who would be your three dream dinner party guests?
I’d love to speak to Obama because I admire his manner and the way he speaks publicly. I’d invite someone who could give us a song so Robbie Williams could provide the music. Finally, I’d invite Ben McFarlane from ACME so he can give us all whistles 😊.
What would you like to achieve outside of rugby?
I’ve recently been diagnosed with alopecia and over the last year have lost all of the hair on my body. It took a little while to get used to. Recently I met someone who was going through a similar thing – a young kid. It was amazing to speak to him and while we talked a little bit about hair loss, we mainly talked about life and normalized it by sharing our stories.
I’d love to do a bit of work within the alopecia community, spreading the word and talking to those who need a bit of support. It can be dark so having people around me and a support network within the rugby community really helped. Some people might not have that so it’s definitely something I want to look into.
The rugby community is great. There are so many people you meet along your journey, and it gets to a point where you have all of these numbers in your phone of people you can call upon. Being able to openly speak to them about my diagnosis with no judgements because you know they’re on your side and want the best for you, has been such a benefit. Probably one I haven’t appreciated as much as I could have done, especially as lots of people don’t have that sort of community around them.
If you could pick any two teams to referee, who would they be?
I’d definitely bring a French team because they’d bring the fans. It’s unbelievable the support the rugby teams have in France. The pre and post-match vibes are incredible. It would have to be a late kick off though so that’s a slight down point. Then you’ve got to bring someone with a bit of skill and flair so someone like Fiji or New Zealand. They’re entertaining to watch, and you have to be able to dodge whilst refereeing! 😉
Do you have any pre-game rituals?
Most of the prep is done before you get to the ground. I start the day with some nice food and spend a lot of time talking to other referees, friends, family just catching up because it helps to distract you. You can easily overthink games and scenarios, so I spend time talking about other things. Pre-game I’ll have a little bit of caffeine and then try to stay as relaxed as possible. I’m quite a laid-back character rather than someone who needs to get inside a zone. I like to sit back, relax and crack a few jokes which don’t always go down too well! To find out more about our partners at ACME Whistles, visit www.acmewhistles.co.uk