Auckland Rugby League
Referees Association

Congratulations to Number 1 New Zealand Referee Leon Williamson who recently won the Referee/Umpire of the Year in the Sporting Excellence Awards held recently in Auckland. Leon beat a top field to showcase refereeing in NZ and put his sport on the map. He has had a fantastic year with selection in the recent World Cup, where over 3 years he had been striving and working towards that goal.

Leon beat a star-studded final field of five from over 20 entries.

They included Tony Hill international Cricket umpire number two behind Billy Bowden, Mark Banicevich from Tae Kwon Do from World Champs, Shelly Boyes first female to do Open World Champs in Body Building, and Craig Bartlett from Judo.

Again a great feat achieved by Leon. Leon thanked those at home who helped him win the award, his family and John McKewon the refs development officer in NZ, as well as coaches in Australia, along with NZRL for picking him for the World Cup.

The award was witnessed by French referees Jose Pereira and Thierry Alibert in Auckland on holidays at the time.

For the past three years Auckland Rugby League Referees Association have sent two referees and a coach to the New South Wales Secondary Schools Carnival held in August. This Tournament is the culmination of dozens of statewide area competitions from which the champions progress to hopefully become NSW State Grand Champions. It is naturally considered very prestigious.

Most NRL clubs have scouts looking for players competing at this event, and the games must have referees capable of controlling a very high standard of football. As a direct result of going to this tournament and doing very well, the Auckland Fox Grade Referees, Hayden Price and Shane Rehm are now invited to Sydney to show what they can do in front of NRL Referees’ coaching staff. They may then possibly follow Leon Williamson into the ranks who referee NRL U20 Toyota Cup and the NSW Cup Premier League competitions.

The career pathway in place Auckland referees is now well established and proves that the proper training scheme followed by interchange with Australian referees and visits to good tournaments will allow our best referees to succeed.

This August Auckland referees Daniel Caddy and Anthony Elliott, with Coach Sam McCarthy, have been booked to go to the All Schools Carnival so that they may continue where others have paved the way. It provides them with an opportunity but it must not be underestimated just how difficult it is to be a winner. For this year’s tournament there are 91 (yes ninety one) referees going. NSW Country sends 46, Sydney 43, and Auckland 2.

As usual this means the odds are stacked fairly highly against us and so the ARLRA selection policy must be based on quality not quantity, so that every dollar we invest in these referees’ futures is seen as money well spent.

At previous Tournaments both Shane Rehm and Hayden Price progressed through to referee Grand Finals in various grades and we can only hope that Daniel Caddy and Anthony Elliott perform at their very best and equal this wonderful example furthering their own careers as league referees.

Auckland Rugby League supports the progress of referees to keep pace with the progress of the game itself right here. The speed and action in the game of rugby league continues to improve so that our players are ready for professional status if opportunity presents itself. Auckland knows that referees play a real and important part in reaching this goal. They are sending me, the ARL Referees’ Development Officer to the Schools tournament to both support the referees, to meet with NSW Development Officers and update us on new techniques that can be passed on to Auckland Referee coaches and assessors. The continuity of learning that comes from this dispersal of ideas helps Auckland develop match officials who will take their learning and apply it for the benefit our own clubs.

By Robin Smith
ARLRA Archivist

(Copyright: Superleague Magazine)