It has been a funny old week, involving a funeral, a chance meeting on the plane going south, rugby reminisces from 50 years ago, and some observations about "fun" and "culture" in the game.
The funeral was for an old friend who came overseas with me 45 years ago and, as often is the case, who died too soon.
It was held in the bar of his favourite watering hole in Rangiora and a few people had brought memoirs to share.
One was a photo of a rugby team from the era and several of the players in the photo were there to share stories of the team.
Central to them was the team coach who, apart from being a very good coach, developed a very good team "culture" that we were easily able to recall 50 years later.
As we were all under the-then drinking age he allowed the players to come to his family home on a Saturday night and have a bit of a party.
It was good of him and his wife to look after us as we partied the night away in the safe environment of their Kaiapoi home.
They were fun nights because he had developed a team culture that embraced having "fun" at training, while playing our games, and at the after-match parties.
It is no coincidence that we were a very successful team and won a number of competitions over the years we were together.
On the way down to the funeral, I sat on the plane beside a Christchurch businessman who spends his time coaching big businesses about how to develop a good "culture" within their organisations, especially in relation to getting the best out of their employees.
He explained how he encourages good work habits by dividing the working day into manageable chunks.
Central to his thesis was the importance of only dealing with e-mails at the beginning and end of the day, rather than throughout the day as they came through.
While adjudicating on the sideline at the Collegiate vs Feilding Ag 1st XV match this week I was able to observe how each team approached the game and how they reacted under pressure.
When Collegiate scored their second try to re-take the lead, the visiting flanker commented in a bemused manner, "how the heck did that happen?"
He was smiling and not at all angry about someone missing a tackle or being out of position.
The team gathered together and the captain re-stated their game plan and re-focussed the team for the next play.
Feilding obviously had a good team "culture" and remained calm, even when they were down to 14 men late in the game.
Keeping their cool, they managed to weather the storm Collegiate threw at them and eventually ran out the winners.
It is perhaps no coincidence that one of their coaches was former Wanganui Rugby Development Officer Murray Ralston, a man who always kept calm whilst playing for Mid-Canterbury a long time ago.
After that match I watched another Collegiate team begin their training session with some "fun" games designed to not only warm them up for the serious training immediately ahead but to encourage them to use the "fun" element in their upcoming game on Saturday.
What has all this got to do with referees and the laws of the game?
Well, the same things about "culture" and "fun" apply to referees as well as players.
The fun part is probably more like enjoyment rather than side-splitting fun - the enjoyment gained from being the 31st man on the field helping the other 30 to have an enjoyable, if not competitive, game of rugby.
Some referees have been training together since the beginning of the year, with weekly "fun" sessions involving fitness training spiced up with a few team games and drills.
The "culture" side is a bit more challenging.
There is no team of referees on the field, although important club games do have a "team of three" - the referee and two assistant referees running the touch lines - and even a team of five or six for Heartland games.
But the referee for your ordinary run-of-the-mill Saturday game is usually a lonely figure out in the middle of the field.
If he is experienced, or a capable up-and-comer, he can often share a comment or two with players during the game without undermining his position of an adjudicator of the rules and fair play.
Wanganui is in a more fortunate position than most of the Heartland unions in that we have a number of young and very good referees.
While they may have passed the rigorous fitness test and law exam, it takes time to develop a culture of confidence in dealing with players who may be ten years older than them (and probably thinking wiser).
That confidence can only come through experience, with maybe some astute coaching along the way.
It is not easy to teach a referee the nuances of positional play and how to deal with constant advice from players.
Let's hope these young referees persevere and remain in the union for a long time.
Lastly, a comment on the Women's World Cup being played in Ireland.
While NZ was scoring 121 unanswered points against the hapless Hong Kong team, most viewers would have noticed the eight tries scored by wing Potia Woodman.
I was more impressed with the performance of the tall young referee - she seemed to just about match the pace of Woodman, as she was always on hand as the ball was grounded.
Not only that, from the bits of the game that I saw, she seemed to be a more than capable referee.
And I thought I occasionally caught a glimpse of a smile on her face as well.