Gisborne Thistle-United rivalry hardened referee Niven

Gisborne referee Chris Niven keeps up with the play as Gisborne Thistle player Matt McVey heads upfield with a Western United player giving chase. Niven has become a Level 4 referee – the only match official in the Central Football federation to achieve that qualification in at least two years. Photo / Liam Clayton

Rivalry between Gisborne football clubs Thistle and United had one unintended but useful consequence. It gave local referee Chris Niven the hide of a rhinoceros.

Niven is now a Level 4 referee, the only match official in the Central Football federation to achieve that qualification in at least two years.

He says the Thistle-United rivalry played a big part in his development as a referee.

The games were intense, and referees came under pressure from players and spectators.

At games outside Gisborne, fellow match officials would sometimes complain about the abuse they were getting.

“I’d think, ‘this is nothing’,” Niven said.

“I’m a grizzled veteran of football in this town. I can go to any federation, any division, and I can handle it because of those hard games between Thistle and United.”

Niven, 25, had been eyeing the Level 4 qualification for years and just missed out last season. This year he tried again.

Central Football referee development officer Russell Jones said Niven’s achievement was predominantly based on two on-field competency tests, one in Hawke’s Bay and one in Rotorua, each watched by two referee assessors, as well as a fitness test, which Jones conducted in Gisborne.

“This is a result of many years of hard work from Chris, and it positions him well for more senior games in the future,” Jones said.

“He is the only person to have achieved that level in the Central Football area during my tenure, which is the past two years.”

Jones said Level 4 was the highest level for a referee before the international grade. It would increase Niven’s chances of officiating in Central League and Central League 2.

Refereeing at Central League level would be a step towards handling games in the season-ending National League. Officials at that level were drawn from proven performers in the Southern, Central and Northern regional leagues.

Gisborne’s “somewhat tricky” location presented a challenge for Niven’s progress up the refereeing ladder. Much would depend on the fortunes of Gisborne Thistle.

If they qualified for the Central League 2 competition being introduced next season, it would be a positive outcome for local referees, Jones said.

“When it comes to Thistle home games in the Federation League, we try to ensure they [the appointments] get spread around. I’ll come up and combine it with work to do two or three games a season. We’ll send two or three Hawke’s Bay referees up, and then Chris will do three of the eight or nine games.”

The top three teams in Central Football’s Federation League and the Capital Premier League will automatically qualify for next year’s 10-team Central League 2 competition.

The fourth- to seventh-placed teams in the Federation League and the Capital Premier/Capital 1 leagues will each take part in a playoff game to determine the final four places.

The New Zealand Football referees development manager told Chris Niven he could play football and ref and be average at both, or concentrate on reffing and "go a long way". Niven chose the latter. Photo / Liam Clayton

Niven – the son of Ross and Megan Niven – played football at school level but never for a club. The first games he refereed were the primary school games his sister Emma played.

“Her team’s coach didn’t want to referee. I thought I knew roughly what I was doing, so I helped out. I was 12 or 13.”

He enjoyed it, and at the age of 14 attended his first refereeing course.

“Once I became a Level 1 referee, I did the Super League games – the intermediate grade in the first year and the junior high school grade in the second. I’d play in the morning, referee the game after that, go home for lunch and then do a line for an Eastern League 1 game in the days when we had three-point control for them.”

Ben Chisholm and Nigel Meade influenced his development as a referee, but it was a conversation with Ken Wallace, New Zealand Football’s referee development manager at the time, that focused his thinking.

“I was doing my Level 2 assessment, and I was in Year 11 at school,” Niven said.

“I was too old to play Super League again but too young to play senior men’s football. I hadn’t really shown any promise as a player. I was an old-school central defender willing to tackle, and that was pretty much my only trick.

“Ken said, ‘You have an option. You can either play and ref and be average at both, or you can referee... and you will go a long way just refereeing’.”

Niven chose to concentrate on being a referee.

“I’ve gone further refereeing than I would ever have gone playing,” he said.

Football had always been a part of his life. He was a surf lifesaver and competitive swimmer, but football always came first in his sporting affections.

His father Ross Niven was a Thistle stalwart. Chris Niven enjoys being in the thick of the action too, but as a referee – although he says “at times it goes too far”. One of those times occurred in May, when he abandoned a game. Central Football investigated and issued sanctions against one of the clubs. Niven did not want to comment on the matter.

His development as a referee included trips to Napier, where he would referee a Federation League game and then run a Central League line.

In 2017 and 2018, he studied paramedicine in Auckland and was exposed to a different level of football and officiating.

He could be refereeing a regional lower-division match and then running a line for a Fifa referee in a first-division game in the same afternoon.

“It opened my eyes to a whole different ball game,” he said. “I picked up a lot of knowledge and experience in that time.”

He took a break from paramedicine and decided it wasn’t for him. He was back home and needed a job. He found one changing tyres – everything up to truck and tractor tyres – and enjoys the work.

“It keeps me fit and gets me out there.”

Auckland gave Niven more than a grounding in high-level football. It was there he met Erin Haszard, born and raised in Wales and now Niven’s fiancée and working as a graphic designer in Gisborne. He counts her support as a key to his success.

And his advice to anyone thinking of becoming a referee?

“Just do it... give it a go and have fun.”