November 19, 2014
Tennis fans had the opportunity on Tuesday morning in Murgon to enjoy a glimpse behind the scenes of the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, aka Wimbledon.
Guest speaker at a special fundraising breakfast at Murgon RSL Club was Wimbledon tournament referee Andrew Jarrett.
The breakfast was to raise funds for the South Burnett Mayor’s Community Benefit Fund.
“My friends tell me I have never had a real job,” Andrew – a former British professional tennis player – said.
“I spent a bit of time as a player, a bit of time as a coach and then a referee … the next step is death,” he joked.
Andrew has been Tournament Referee at Wimbledon for nine years, and along the way has met all the tennis greats as well as the Queen and other members of the Royal Family.
He’s responsible for scheduling matches, starting and stopping of play because of weather and light conditions and enforcement of the rules.
He is also responsible for player discipline which means he has some pretty big egos to massage at times.
Andrew shared photographs from each year he has been at Wimbledon as well as anecdotes about professional tennis, but – for obvious reasons – wouldn’t be drawn on who is favourite players are on the circuit.
His motto for the job (and life) – as passed on by his predecessor, the legendary Alan Mills – is “Listen to everybody but make your own decision”.
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