Frank Whaley

The society is saddened by the recent passing of Frank Whaley, who died on the 4th November 2020 following a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.

Frank was an honorary member of CUDRRS, having joined us in 1990 before going on to be our society training officer, referee assessor and a respected part of the rugby community. His reach went beyond the society, as Frank often travelled to help referees in the Eastern Counties and Central Federation.

Frank helped CUDRRS gain a reputation for providing a much admired and appreciated
service to local and national rugby of which we were very proud. In particular, he provided an analytical and constructive contribution to our evaluation of law change experiments in the RFU Laws Laboratory which were organised in College Rugby from 1996 to 2008.

Former society president Jon Evans has expressed his appreciation for the guidance and support he received from Frank whilst forging his career in refereeing and it is undoubtedly not alone in this regard.

Our condolences go out to all of Frank’s family and friends, not least to his wife Jill, daughters Susan and Catherine, and their grandchildren.