Jackson Reuben-Swinton has a passion for refereeing.
After several years away from the district Te Puke’s Jackson Reuben-Swinton is back, and has taken the role of referee manager at the Bay of Plenty Rugby Union.
Known by most as Jax, he has been living in Waihau Bay and working for Ngāti Porou East Coast Rugby Union as referee manager and rugby development officer.
“I’m on my own personal journey of understanding my whakapapa as well as learning to kōreroMāori and excited to see where both of these take me. I have strong connections with a number of other sports outside of rugby and I’m keen to see how my connections can benefit the Bay of Plenty Rugby Union.”
Before he left the district he coached Te Puke High School First XV and played the game.
“I’ve been refereeing for 15-20 years with rugby and touch — touch definitely 20 years, rugby a bit shorter — so it’s obviously a passion,” he says.
Jax sees three pillars to his role — retention, education and coaching.
He says he wants to create an environment where referees are able to express themselves and “go out every weekend and feel safe doing so” so they want to continue.
“I want to put a programme together that continually challenges the referees, with any new upskilling in terms of rules. You can imagine in rugby, the [rule] book is huge.
“I also want to make sure referees are able to do their jobs remembering most of the positions are volunteer-based, so making sure they feel safe in the environment and that they feel like they aren’t taken for granted.”
He is also working with clubs to improve culture and some people’s attitudes towards referees.
“We can put the best programme together and implement it, but if one side’s not working with the other we’re in trouble.”
Getting new referees is a priority, with former players and women, where he says it is important to grow pathways, among the targets.
He would also like to see more Māori referees.
“There’s plenty on the sideline on a Saturday, but getting them in the door and come aboard ...”
He admits, refereeing isn’t for everyone.
“It’s enjoyable, but you [also] learn a lot of things about yourself. You learn how to communicate properly, things like that.
“You’ve got to have a thick skin. I don’t think it’s right, but there are these comments that come towards you that on a day when you are down would probably drop you so you’ve got to learn where to put those in terms of how you deal with it.
“And I must say not everyone’s got that — it’s experience.”
He has previously been instrumental in encouraging rangatahi to become touch referees and is keen to do the same in rugby.
“I want to give rangatahi another opportunity to grow them into good people and the pathways in terms of referees is crazy now, especially for women, they are going places fast.”
While living in Waihau Bay, Jax worked for Ngāti Porou East Coast Rugby Union.
“That was an eye-opener for me — but they are good people and I am good with kaumātua and kuia so was able to open some doors.”
As well as his roles with the union, he continued to referee.
“I’d come from structured rugby and knew the rule book. But when you apply it to the East Coast, and no disrespect to them down there, some of the rules they had never heard of.
“Plying my trade down there was a challenge, but persisting with it I noticed a vast change in the rugby behaviour.”
He was also involved in the Heartland team where there was also an impact, with the Ngāti Porou East Coast team last season winning the Lochore Cup.
When the Bay of Plenty Rugby Union opportunity arose, after talking it over with his family, there was little hesitation in jumping on board.
After the isolation of Covid-19, the time is right to get among the people
“I’m a real practical, face-to-face relationship-builder type of person. For this role you need to be amongst the people — you need to be showing your face. I’m loving my role at the moment and have a good community team and can just hit anyone up for help.
“What I like about this role is the values they mantra by and I’ve seen it in different forms. And the other thing that attracted me as well was the acceptance of Māori tikanga within the organisation.”
He believes that will help open doors and bring more people in.
Community rugby general manager Pat Rae says he is extremely happy to have Jax on board.
“He’s well known within the rugby fraternity and will be a great addition to the community rugby team. He’s a natural communicator and people person and with a strong connection to the east coast and our rural and Māori clubs, he will be a great resource to build strong connections with those areas, where we traditionally struggle to recruit referees.”