Former Super League referee Thierry Alibert will co-lead the camp for the match officials group at the European U19s Championship in Belgrade which begins on Sunday 14 July, alongside Ireland’s Steve Hogan

During his officiating career, Frenchman Alibert took charge of 34 senior men’s internationals and had a seven-year career in Super League which included him taking charge of the 2011 World Club Challenge.

“I am very pleased to have been nominated by the European Federation to act as one of the managers of the match officials squad,” he said. “I am looking forward to working with them and sharing some of my experience and helping them to get the best out of the opportunity. It will be good to be back involved in a hands-on capacity with rugby league.”

Hogan is one of ERL’s leading MO tutors and has been ever present at previous European U19s Championships to help create a culture of learning and development alongside performance, and has contributed significantly to the creation of resources for match officials and coaches throughout Europe.

Following a nominations process involving national federations, seven countries are represented in the MO group who will take charge of the championship games involving Serbia, England, France, Scotland, Ukraine and USA.

Hosts Serbia have provided two of the squad with Nenad Zujic, who recently took charge of the Italy v Netherlands women’s international, joining Petar Randjelović. Ireland’s James Spencer and France’s Enzo Peyre return to the championships having been involved in the match officials squad for the 2022 edition, with both having taken charge of high profile internationals recently, Spencer refereeing France v Greece women earlier this year, while Peyre was the man in the middle for England v Wales women at AMT Headingley Stadium in 2022.

Samuel Jenkinson will represent England and has international experience having recently refereed Wales v Ireland women in the World Cup qualifiers, and Wales will have representation from Craig Davies who has been progressing through the ranks in the Welsh domestic competitions.

Athens resident David Brown will be aiming for his first international refereeing experience having gained international honours as a touch judge in the recent Greece v Serbia women’s international, and Willem Ferreira will travel from South Africa for the event.

The group will train together under the guidance of Alibert and Hogan, review their games and look to share knowledge to take back to their respective nations. 

ERL general manager, David Butler, commented: “We’re very pleased to be able to give this opportunity to the eight selected officials. Several graduates of previous European U19s Championships have gone on to achieve greater honours in the game and we’ll look forward to seeing how this cohort progresses.

“I’m very grateful to both Steve and Thierry who have given up a week to manage the group and have already spent several hours planning and working with the them prior to them arriving in Belgrade.”

EURO U19S MATCH OFFICIALS SQUAD:
Samuel Jenkinson (England)

Enzo Peyre (France)

David Brown (Greece)

James Spencer (Ireland)

Nenad Zujic (Serbia)

Petar Randjelović (Serbia)

Willem Ferreira (South Africa)

Craig Davies (Wales)

MATCH OFFICIALS MANAGERS:

Thierry Alibert (France)

Steve Hogan (Ireland)