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About the Author James Taylor was born in Rylstone a country
town in NSW on the 5th June 1942. He moved to Newcastle at the age of eleven
attended primary school at Hamilton and High School at Central Broadmeadow
leaving to take up an apprenticeship as a Maintenance Fitter at the age of
fifteen. After he graduated to his third year he decided enough was enough and
moved to a grocery chain and in his nineteenth year volunteered to join the
regular Army serving on the Malaya /Thailand Border. After his discharge he worked in the steel and
building industry and joined the miners ranks in 1968 progressing to a Deputy in
1974 and was appointed General Secretary of the Colliery Officials Association
in 1983 and still retains that position. He began his Rugby days playing for the Army in Malaya,
Parramatta and Boolaroo in Newcastle. Refereeing
beckoning him in 1972 retiring in 1989 after a long career. He was the author of a column for the Australian Rugby News for several years under the non-de-plume of Leather Balls. This is his first book. Illustrations: Terrance Shaw
READ A SAMPLE: LEATHER BALLS Leather
Balls was a name I grabbed out of the air one day when Tony Best asked me if I
would write a column for his magazine “The Australian Rugby News”.
I immediately accepted on the payment of two tickets in a prime position
at every Test played in NSW. It
turned out to be an association that lasted for several years until the magazine
folded and remains as one of the best deals I have ever made. My pen name came as an inspiration due to the fact you needed leather
balls to play rugby, at the time I didn’t think vinyl balls would be
appropriate and some say you require little or no balls at all.
This book contains all of the stories printed in that journal and others
that didn’t get to the presses, due to the editor's lovely wife passing away
which I believe took the fun and the drive from Tony, and his will to continue
on alone as a publisher faded away. APPOINTMENTS BOARD MEMBERS Refereeing standards can only be improved by constant coaching by people
with the knowledge and ability such as those who sit on the appointments panel,
they give their time freely and unreservedly to assist referees push towards the
pinnacle of success, whether it be grand finals or test matches, they are to be
commended for their efforts. Some times you will find an overzealous member of the panel, one who is
jealous of your abilities or just loves to see others squirm at the end of a
hook, knowing too well that they hold your refereeing future in their hands. Others are just harmless twerps or are looking to raise their own stature
at your expense, whatever it is you will be able to find one such person as is
described in the stories to follow, I wrote these from observations I made
throughout the years and from differing associations that I had the good fortune
to visit. I remember one such chap who refused to speak to a referee after the game
and waited until he, the board member, had imbibed several schooners and then
attacked the referee while he was half pissed.
This occurred to me by a member of a representative board and next time he
came to my game I told him if he couldn’t speak to me about my game in the
dressing room and had to wait until the pub to do it, then “piss off,” I
told him, “ because you have no idea what you will be talking about by
then.” After that we became quite good friends and discussed my matches in a
jovial atmosphere. The dedicated ones, and there are many, are really helpful and are trying
to see that you achieve the success you deserve. When I am asked for advice I tell budding referees ‘to train your arse
off and really dedicate yourselves to the art of refereeing, in time if you are
good enough you will get there.’ When
you are at the top of the pile there is very little among the top two to four
referees, an appointment can tip towards the way you part your hair or what you
do for a crust even to where your habitat is.
A referee should never lament over a missed appointment to a match he had
his heart set on, to brood over your disappointments will never make you feel
better. That appointment has already gone to someone else who had the good
fortune to be in the right place at the right time, so with that statement of
clarity I leave you with my motto; I
always say, “I
AM AS GOOD AS THE BEST AND BETTER THAN THE REST.”
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