Opportunity Knox for former rugby ref
Published 3 Feb 2012 14:00
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FIELD OF DREAMS: Graham Knox is delighted to be working with the Colts at Fort Matilda, and is shown, below, with a referee's award in 2004.
WITH the current cold snap coinciding with the start of the Six Nations championship, Greenock Wanderers' fixture card will have a stop-start aspect to it over the next couple of months.
The locals still have six league games to play between now and the end of the season but also hope to arrange some friendly matches to keep the players sharp during lengthy periods of inactivity.
One club member who will particularly enjoy the start of the international season is former top class referee Graham Knox.
Knox knows what it is like to referee in front of tens of thousands of spectators and took some time out during the week to talk to the Telegraph about his career.
The former international referee made it to the top echelons of the game culminating in handling the IRB World Cup Qualifier in Heidelberg between Germany and Georgia in February 2009.
It was a long journey to get to that level though and Knox's career started in the junior teams at Greenock Wanderers.
He captained every team he played for and was appointed club captain in 1997.
A successful period followed for the club and the classy stand-off was an integral part of the side that started the journey from the 5th Division of the National league to the club's current standing in Premiership rugby.
Knox completed his playing days at the club as captain of the 2nd XV and they enjoyed three consecutive promotions under his leadership.
In 2003 Knox took up refereeing and his potential was quickly identified by the SRU resulting in him being fast tracked onto the professional high performance panel within five seasons.
The big game appointments began to come and he refereed 16 times in the Magners League and eight times in the Amlin European Challenge Cup. He regularly officiated live on television and enjoyed big matches the most.
Knox said: "Two major occasions I remember were the Ulster v Scarlets game in Belfast in front of 12,500 supporters and the other was the Bayonne v Roma match in front of 20,000 fanatical Frenchmen in the Basque area of France.
"Thankfully Bayonne won that night so I was quite popular."
The whistler's career reached its zenith with his international appointment in February 2009 which also meant that his name was only the fifth to be inscribed on Greenock Wanderers' international honours board dedicated to those who have represented their country in a full international rugby match.
Knox added: "It was a great experience and honour to represent my country and club on the international stage and I was fortunate to enjoy such a successful and high profile career.
"I stood down at the end of last season due to a change in how the SRU were to allocate games to their professional panel. It meant that irrespective of performance, I would not be guaranteed games and putting in at least 20 hours a week in training and match analysis was a lot of time and effort which I could not justify, especially with the time spent away from my work and family."
Knox left the SRU on good terms and their loss is Greenock Wanderers' gain. An invitation to join the Wanderers coaching staff followed immediately and Knox is now coaching the club's emerging talent at under-18s level along with colleagues Graham Finnie and Ally Hunter.
The side has plenty of talented players and Knox is enjoying the challenge of developing the boys on an individual basis while moulding the group into a cohesive playing unit.
He is currently taking his coaching badges and is looking forward to developing himself as a coach and imparting the knowledge he has gained throughout a successful playing and refereeing career.
Many senior members at Fort Matilda see Knox as a future club president with a long management career in front of him but the modest former referee is reluctant to look too far ahead.
He added: "Wanderers are a fantastic club and it's great to be involved at any level at Fort Matilda. At present I am focused on being as effective a coach as I can and doing a good job for the Colts side.
"If I can transmit my experiences of playing and refereeing to the players and emphasis that they need a professional attitude to an amateur sport to be successful at a club like Wanderers then that will be a good start."
The festivities start with the France v Italy match scheduled for 1pm followed by the Calcutta Cup match between Scotland and England from Murrayfield at 5pm.
This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 03 Feb 12
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