USA Rugby Referees are pleased to announce Matt Eason has accepted the position as the USA Rugby Referee Coach Manager with immediate effect. Eason brings a wealth of experience to the team. His playing career included the captaincy of California State University, Sacramento and playing for Sacramento RFC. In 1992 he started refereeing along with practicing Law in Sacramento. As a referee he officiated in many USA Rugby National Championship tournaments including the ITTs, Men’s Club and Collegiate.
Since his retirement from refereeing, he has featured in many roles, including IRB Referee Educator, IRB Judicial Officer and USA Rugby National Referee Coach. Referee coaching needs a progressive forward-thinking Referee Coach Manager whose main focus is what is best for the referees, the game and its future. During six years as a USA Rugby Referee Coach, Eason has proved to be very successful and innovative.
Eason was fortunate enough to have the very unique experience of working as an elephant trainer at Marine World Africa, USA (now known as Six Flags Discovery Kingdom) during his summers and school breaks throughout both college and law school. It was working at this job that he learned the most about problem solving, and how to think outside the box.
“It was a natural progression to appoint to this position, as his continued success and leadership as referee coach, made him the ideal candidate,” said USA Rugby High Performance Referee Manager Richard Every. “He has already laid the groundwork for a new and improved approach to referee coaching in the USA and we are excited to work with him”.
Looking to the future, Eason’s goal is to develop a larger pool of Referee Coaches, assist in establishing pathways and structures for referee coaches to progress from local to national level, and to develop and maintain top-level USA referees that serve the game at national and international level. He has been selected to attend the annual IRB Talent Optimization Program in South Africa in July 2013 where the new Coach of Match Official Level 2 course will be trialed.
“The level of play in the USA can only continue to improve if the quality of refereeing continues to improve with it,” Eason said. “I’m honored to be selected to serve USA Rugby in this critical area.”
