Allan O’Connell recently passed away from natural causes after serving the sport he loved for most of his life, leaving behind his wife and family.
Allan was an active referee for 28 years, doing duty both in Western Province and Durban. After hanging up his whistle he went into the administrative side and served on the Durban Referees’ Sub-society, ultimately going on to be chairman for five years. During that time he also served as vice president on the KwaZulu Natal Rugby Referees’ Society and took over the reins as president when the incumbent resigned.
It was in Durban where Allan ignited his passion for performance reviewing. After some time focussing on the Durban contingent, he started to take an interest in the other KZN sub-unions, nurturing his craft under the watchful eyes of Richard Nash, Paul Ackerman and Fransie Muller. Under their expert guidance Allan was promoted to do performance reviewers at national level, a post he held for eight years.
Returning to Cape Town in 2014 he made an immediate contribution to the performance reviewing portfolio. He was always ready and willing to help anybody who needed assistance. His meticulous way of reviewing referees’ performances – even taking his video recorder to record the matches and then review afterward – shows the respect Allan had for his craft and how he respected the efforts of the referees.
Following the departure of Arthur Southgate from the Table View/Mamre region Allan stepped in to help. Once again illustrating his absolute commitment to helping referees in the pursuit of their own quest for excellence. He stayed head of the region until his departure for South West Districts in April 2020, where he had the goal of continuing his performance reviewing duties.
‘Allan and I spent many hours together at Paarl Gim tournaments where he always volunteered his time and sat for 8 – 10 hours straight to review referee performances. It was during these engagements that I got to know Allan the guy with a huge sense of humor. Allan was one of our top performance reviewers averaging about 85 PR reports a year excluding the coaching reports he also completed,’ said Joey Salmans, chairman of Western Province Rugby Referees’ Society. ‘Allan was a true salt-of-the-earth person.’
WPRRS extends their condolences to the O’Connell family and all those referees whose lives were impacted by this amazing rugby man. May his soul rest in peace.