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Geraint Ashton Jones
A twenty six year career in the Royal Navy was defined, in many ways, through rugby. During Geraint’s first appointment, at HMS Drake, he was ‘lurked’ into coaching and the role of Secretary for the Navy Colts Rugby team and also to help out with some refereeing for the Navy midweek matches. Commander Brian Weeks was responsible for the coaching role whilst Warrant Officer Ken Dobson’s silver tongue was responsible for the start of Geraint’s refereeing. Both have a lot to answer for! They started him on a journey that saw rugby take Geraint around the world and opened doors he did not know existed. Through his time officiating for the Royal Navy and also coaching at unit and representative level he learned to appreciate the rich history that the Royal Navy Rugby Union has both in the UK and abroad. In 1999 Geraint started to collate anecdotes and validate some of the historical rugby stories and records. This work continues along with further research to increase the amount of history that can be made available. Geraint is always looking for historical information to add to the archive and also information and stories that either confirms or corrects the information currently published.
During his association with Navy Rugby Geraint was fortunate to represent the Union as a referee at many prestigious matches both in the UK and overseas. During this time he was awarded both the RN Sports Official of the Year award and the Combined Services Sports Official of the Year. Geraint became the only dual winner of the RN Sports Official of the Year when he was also awarded it during his time as Director of Rugby for the Royal Navy Rugby Union. During this four year period Geraint headed and managed a coaching and backroom team that was able to win the U23 Inter Service title twice, along with retaining the Commonwealth Cup and also winning the Senior Inter Service title, ending the Army’s dominance of the competition. Geraint also secured, to date, the only away win in the annual match against the French Navy.
Tania Ashton Jones
If you can’t beat them; join them! Described by former Navy Referees Secretary, John Large, as the long suffering Tania; Tania’s association with Navy Rugby started in support of Geraint’s refereeing. However Tania did spend some time on the front line as appointments secretary for the Navy and Combined Services referees in Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. Upon leaving the Naval Service Tania was recruited by the Royal Navy Rugby Union to provide bespoke coaching support to the Senior XV in both their 2010 and 2011 seasons.