Bringing you closer to the action!

In 1996, Peter and Jonathan Downey were working at Bath Rugby Club, raising money for the "Teachers" Stand. During the marketing of the project they discovered referees were so dissatisfied with the rugby commentaries giving the viewer wrong information that they had taken the drastic step of wiring themselves up in order to allow the commentator to listen.

Most commentators are former star players and if they at times could get it wrong, how on earth were the spectators to know what was right or wrong! The idea of "Ref!Link was born.

There followed attempts at Bristol and Worcester Rugby clubs and, at the latter, the new South stand was designed to have headphones built into the seats to accommodate the concept (hotwiring). However the cost proved prohibitive.

The quest went on to find a system that would work and be cost effective. Mobile transmitters and disposable radios were the answer. These were proposed to the RFU Referees Centre of Excellence at Castlecroft near Wolverhampton, where the RFU agreed trials should proceed at one of the Zurich Premiership Clubs before the end of the season 2000.

The trials were undertaken at Harlequins' Ground, The Stoop where, at the time, both Harlequins' and London Irish played their home matches. These trials proved extremely successful.

Permission was given to start at Leicester Tigers in the following season (2000-2001). Subsequently, in early September the RFU decided that the forthcoming Autumn Internationals were to be covered. Ref!Link's service and products proved a great success and were enthusiastically received by spectators, referees, coaches, journalists and even the players themselves.

Over the following years Ref!Link was used in rugby matches at Murrayfield stadium, Stade de France, the Millennium Stadium, Lansdowne Road and Flamigno Stadium in Rome, as well as the Hong Kong Sevens. The products and service was now well and truly established.

By 2004, the company had now developed a range of products other than referee based communications.and its services had now been extended into many other sports including, by way of example, horseracing, superbikes and motor sports.

As a result of this expansion, in March 2004 the company carried out a corporate reorganisation to meet the needs of it's expanding client base.

Sports!Link-fm was thus created as the overall brand name for the company which currently consists of three divisions, namely Ref!Link, Sports!Link and Race!Link.