Top ref moving to Hawke's Bay, despite a light-hearted warning

Jono Bredin, soon to move to Hawke's Bay, refereeing a Tasman-Auckland match in this year's NPC. Photo / Chris Symes - Photosport

A former international netball umpire who has made a rapid advance up the rugby refereeing ladder is moving to Hawke's Bay later this month.

Jono Bredin, who umpired the 2018 Commonwealth Games final, and already achieved international standing as an assistant referee in this year's All Blacks-Fiji match in Dunedin, is moving to Havelock North by Christmas with partner Danielle Maulder and their children.

He's also refereed three Hawke's Bay Magpies NPC matches (two losses and a win by a single point), and this year's NPC championship final between Taranaki and Southland, and says that while moving from Dunedin to Havelock North is to devote more time to family, he's still aiming to achieve as much in refereeing as he can.

He's thus ready for some gentle ribbing over the Hawke's Bay matches he refereed, all away games and including two losses - one of them when Taranaki's mildly controversial 31-19 victory over the Magpies in New Plymouth in their opening match of this year's Bunnings Warehouse NPC.

With Taranaki on top in the first quarter, which some regarded as the Bay's worst 20 minutes of rugby all season, Taranaki hooker Bradley Slater was awarded a try despite Hawke's Bay protestations that the ball had not been grounded, and the uncertainty of a video review.

Both sides went on to great things, Taranaki unbeaten in winning the NPC championship and Hawke's Bay going unbeaten till the Premiership semi-final, signalling all would be forgiven.

But Bredin expects the New Plymouth match may find its way back into discussion, recalling that in the light-hearted and good-natured banter afterwards it was already known he would be moving to the Bay, and they could "sort" him out when he arrived.

His other Magpies matches were last year, a loss to Bay of Plenty in Tauranga and a 34-33 win, including a penalty try to Hawke's Bay, in a dead-rubber in Inglewood ahead of a championship semi-final between both sides a week later.

He's refereed at least one netball game in Hawke's Bay, an ANZ Championship match between Central Pulse and Southern Steel in 2012.

From Gore but having lived in Dunedin since 2005, 36-year-old account Bredin's partner is from Hawke's Bay, and they will be settling in Havelock North with their three children.

He plans to continue refereeing in Hawke's Bay, which this year had three referees – Dan Waenga, Tipene Cottrell and Nick Hogan on the national first-class referees panel (among the best provincial representations in the country), while a fourth, Stu Catley, refereed the Heartland Rugby Lochore Cup final between Whanganui and North Otago in Whanganui.

Bredin has also kept his hand-in with netball, officiating occasionally in Dunedin club games when able to since he took to refereeing the football with the oval ball.

Officiating in the two sports at various levels in "parallel", he started rugby refereeing five years ago.