A KEY element of this month’s European Under 19 tournament in the Pyrenees, in which hosts France beat holders England in the Championship final and Greece topped the Shield standings, was the nurturing of a number of match officials from across the globe. The initiative is seen by the International Rugby League as being “the most expansive investment into grassroots game development in (our) history, (aimed at ensuring) that every IRL member nation is able to produce its own coaches and match officials, through accredited local educators. Rago, Randjelović and Tsakalos completed their level one CATO (consolidation – application – team/train – observation) with Hogan before joining Davies, Kuxmann and Whyte to undertake the IRL level two match official course. All six are now targeting level two CATO+, through which they plan to proceed to being level one match official educators and deliver courses for their own national federations. In addition to the education programme, the twelve match officials enjoyed a nine-day experience in a full-time training environment, led by FFRXIII head of match officials Stéphane Vincent, and assisted by Hogan and Pilkington.