The shortage there is so severe that referees are officiating three to four games eachSaturday and trainee referees are thrust into games while they are still learning.
“They are a vital but often overlooked and underappreciated component of our sport participation offer, making the game happen for the thousands of participants who take the field, pitch or court each week.”
To help combat the shortage, the Waikato Rugby Referees Association along with Waikato Rugby are running a recruitment campaign to get people who have stopped playing, given up club management involvement or coaching, back into the sport as match officials.
Waikato Rugby participation and development manager David Fox said the shortage was of “large scale”: The rugby union currently had roughly 100 referees, but it would need at least another 100.
“Without our communities and our sports organisations encouraging and supporting the involvement of members to referee, we will end up with lots of players and no one to control the game.
Fox said transitioning from player to referee in rugby wasn’t an exit from the game.
“It’s an entrance into a new realm of rugby passion.
“It’s a transformation into the guardian of fair play. It’s about preserving the game’s integrity, mentoring the next generation, and embracing the challenge with passion and purpose.
“Being a referee is not seen as a role many have considered but once in the role it is tremendously rewarding.”
The training and support network from the referees association was great, said Fox, and there was a pathway to possibly ending up in the professional ranks.
Sport Waikato chief executive Matthew Cooper.
Part of the reason for the lack of referees were sideline comments, said Cooper.
“Poor sideline behaviour is one of the leading reasons that both players and officials are dropping out of the game.
“As bystanders, we need to remember that our actions have consequences and impact on those around us and I urge people to think before they spread negativity on the sideline.
“Like players, [referees] are human. They make mistakes, they learn, develop and grow and it’s important that we recognise and support this.
“Perhaps those who have a tendency to berate officials on the sideline might like to take up the opportunity to become a referee/official themselves – after all, it’s not as easy as you might think and there is a shortage,” Cooper said.
A positive example for an organisation showing zero tolerance towards referee and player abuse from the sideline is Waikato Basketball, which has championed this for many years.
Waikato Basketball will give warnings to those making sideline remarks and if the abuse does not stop, the game will be halted and the person removed from the venue.
Waikato Basketball also has a programme to introduce many younger referees into the basketball leagues that are run for a vast number of school teams around the Waikato region.
“Many primary and secondary schools now make parents sign a code of sideline conduct for all the sports their children are involved in - they are leading the way in changing generations of sideline behaviour,” Fox said.
Please contact Waikato Rugby Union’s match officials game developer Andrew Bowe at andrewb@mooloo.co.nz.
Graeme “Mintie” Mead is a sports commentator and the host of the radio show Waikato All Sports Breakfast, which runs on Newstalk ZB on Saturday mornings from 7am.
