Brent Eastwood sport thought: It's time to treat Northland's officials right

Sport Northland chief executive Brent Eastwood says officials like Northland Rugby Referees Association referee education officer Boris Jurlina need to be respected. Photo / File

I talked last week about supporting your kids to make the most of learning life skills through playing team sport.

Team sport is a great watch at any level – it's fantastic to see the keen participants (especially the younger ones) full of enthusiasm out there playing, to see the coaches, managers, mums, dads, families and friends providing support on the sideline and to see the officials out there ensuring the game or event is being run fairly.

And of course, without these officials, we wouldn't be out there playing or supporting those that are participating. It just would not be possible – imagine the sport you play or watch without proper officials in charge.

It would soon degenerate into a bit of a mess – no one to pull up players breaking the laws of the game, to call half and fulltime, to judge the scoring, to time participants or record results.

It would be a farce, as one of the reasons we play or participate in sport is for the competition – winning and losing are key components of all sports, and it would be next to impossible to achieve this without officials.

But a lot of sports find it very hard to attract people into officiating. It's no wonder either, given the abuse that can occur on the sideline from supporters and even coaches.

Some tend to let the officials know when they think they have not officiated in the correct way – and for some, this is not said or done in a very nice way.

Adults seem to be definitely put off by these "mouthy" people on the sidelines, and I have no doubt it stops many from putting their hand up to officiate.

There are a few sports around that seem to have reversed this trend by attracting young people into officiating, setting up schemes where young people are recruited, trained, mentored and recognised. Officiating can also be an attractive alternative to simply just playing your favourite sport.

It also seems to me that most of those "mouthy" people on the sidelines have a much tougher time sounding off at younger people than they would at their peers.

Other sports have developed a "culture" of officiating – swimming is a great example, where parents simply must pitch in, given the number needed in the sport. It is virtually compulsory to have some kind of officiating role, as it takes between 40 and 50 officials to run a swim meet.

It is basically accepted that each parent or guardian will have to take their turn officiating, and regional swimming associations like Swimming Northland do a great job in providing excellent training, mentoring and recognition for their officials.

I guess it doesn't really matter how it happens across the different sports – as long as it happens, and in an effective manner. Sometimes a sports code just needs to think differently or work collaboratively to get a different result.

Because without officials, playing or watching would not be half as much fun as it is.