Referee News
7 November 2011
COUNTIES MANUKAU REFEREE JOINS THE NZ REFEREE ACADEMY
After the 2011 nomination, application, and interview process, Jessica Beard of Counties Manukau is one of 8 referees selected to join the NZRU Referee ACADEMY programme in 2012/13:
Jessica BEARD (Counties-Manukau)
Nicholas HOGAN (Wellington)
Angus MABEY (Auckland)
Bevan NEWLANDS (South Canterbury)
Brendon PICKERILL (North Harbour)
Cameron STONE (Taranaki)
Brigitte TYLER (Otago)
Nehemiah WILLIAMS (Thames Valley)
This is yet another step in the development pathway of young Jessica, says Referee Education Officer Kerry Petrie. Her inclusion in the Academy program reflects the potential she is now displaying has not only been recognized by, but will be subject to on-going monitoring from those within the NZRU High Performance Referee team.
Without getting ahead of ourselves, Women's 7's is now part of the Olympics. That along with the Women's World Cup every 4 years, is certainly providing real opportunities for Women referees to be involved in the game internationally...who knows?
Jessica will join fellow Counties Manukau referee Daniel O'Connell who has completed one of his 2 year tenure in the Academy program.
The annual Academy camp will be held at the Sport & Rugby Institute, Palmerston North, over the weekend of 8th-10th June 2012.
22 March 2011
NZ Referee Academy - Website Article
Counties Manukau referee Daniel O'Connell has recently been selected into the New Zealand Referee Academy.
Over the past few months Daniel's on field abilities have been recognised by not only by the Northern Region Referee Selectors, but also the Northern Region Academy Manager and High Performance Referee Coaches. He also impressed new Sanzar Referee Manager, Lyndon Bray, at a recent referee camp in Northland.
"We have known for some time that Daniel displays a high degree of X-factor both in his abilities on-field and as a person off-field" said Referee Education Officer Kerry Petrie. "He is a special young man who has come a long way in only a short space of time. We know he already possesses many of the attributes that in time will lead him to developing into a very competent referee. We are very excited for him."
The Referee Academy tenure is for two-years, providing members with the opportunity to not only to be exposed to the High Performance programme but to personal development skills beyond the refereeing function that will be of assistance in other areas of their life.
Daniel is the third referee from Counties Manukau to be selected into the NZ Referee Academy, with both Antony Petrie and James Imlach who already have been through and successfully completed their two-years as members of the squad.
Daniel is being coached by Glen Blackwell who last year achieved his Level 2 (High Performance) referee coach qualification.
27 November
COUNTIES MANUKAU REFEREE JOINS THE NZ REFEREE ACADEMY
After a ‘robust' nomination, selection, and interview process, Counties Manukau Referee James Imlach joins the NZRU Referee ACADEMY for 2009/2010.
In his third year of refereeing, James is quickly developing into a very competent referee says Referee Education Officer Kerry Petrie. His selection into the NZ Referee Academy reflects that these talents have now been recognized nationally.
James joins fellow Counties Manukau Referee Antony Petrie in the squad. Of the four members currently in the NZ Academy from the Northern Region, two hail from our Province say Petrie. This is a reflection of the tremendous work a lot of people are putting into the development of our officials.
Those selected into the 2009/2010 intake were:
James IMLACH Counties Manukau
William BURRETT Waikato
William JOHNSTON Taranaki
Todd DURSTON Manawatu
Blair BARCLAY Canterbury
Chris GRAHAM Otago
These 6 ‘talent identified' referees, will join the 7 members from the 2008 intake, at an annual camp at the NZRU in Wellington, between the 5th and 7th June 2009.
27 June 2008
Four Counties Manukau Referees have been selected to represent the Northern Region.
Antony Petrie has been selected to represent the Northern Zone Rugby Referees for 2008. Petrie the youngest referee in the squad at 20 years of age has been working towards this goal since last year. “It’s nice that the hard work has paid off and been recognised” said Antony.
The young referee who is currently in his sixth year of refereeing has his sites set on higher honours. He wants to get into the National Squad and hopes to do so within two years and then wants to eventually end up refereeing Super 14 Rugby.
James Imlach, Harley Brown and Peter Pender have have been selected into the Northern Region Refereeing Promising Squad. These three will be refereeing SSG, u14, u16, u18B and/or u85kg rugby during the representative season. Counties Manukau Referee Education Officer Kerry Petrie said “They have all worked hard and deserve their selection and are very excited at the news.”
Referees Push Boundaries 8 June 2008
The Counties Manukau Referee Academy spent last Sunday training at UNITEC in Auckland, where Vicki Aitken (Post Graduate Diploma in Sports Psychology) provided the group with technical knowledge of;
- The effects of mental pressure.
- Techniques that assist with the managing of pressure.
- Maintaining composure when in pressure situations.
Vicki was supported by Steve Walsh (International Rugby Referee) who shared experiences of when he has been under pressure as a rugby referee, both on and off the field, explaining how he was able to deal with and work through such occasions.
"As the level of rugby improves and intensifies, so does the pressure on the referee to perform" says Referee Education Officer Kerry Petrie
"Those who often make it at the top tier of refereeing are simply those who can control and manage the pressure that exists with games of that stature. That is why Steve's input was invaluable as he has been there and done that. That together with the techniques that Vicki shared will hopefully assist our Academy referees in managing personal pressure as they start to move up the grades as referees"
Later that day, these techniques were put into practice, when all were encouraged to push beyond their personal fears on the high ropes course at UNITEC.
"Everyone pushed hard, often in trying personal circumstances, with all completing each challenge provided to them by trainer Liz Penham of Adventure Works NZ" stated Petrie.
"The conquering of these challenges made all realise that pressure is just a state of mind. Once coping plans are put into place and emotions controlled, the factors that caused the initial pressure are often easily defeated".
Young Referees Take Control - April 2008
During the 2008 April school holidays, 29 secondary school students from around Counties Manukau completed a three-day introduction course on rugby refereeing.
This course, specifically designed and tailored for teenagers, involved a combination of both theory and practical based training sessions. These consisted of the learning of rugby law, how to use a whistle, signaling, as well as on-field training of referee processes at different game phases including tackle, ruck, scrum and lineout.
With the content of the course recognised by NZQA, being registered on the National Qualifications Network, achievement of a written safety assignment and an on-field evaluation competency test gains attendees 8 Level 2 NCEA credits.
These students have since been assisting with the officiating of matches at recent Intermediate school rugby tournaments, with the latest of these held at Bruce Pulman Park, Papakura. Throughout that day, 14 students from different secondary schools around the Province refereed and ran touch for a total of 30 matches. A number were also successful in achieving the competency test component of the course, gaining the 4 Level 2 credits such provided.
NZRU Referee Academy Members for 2008
Seven Referees have been selected to join the NZRU Referee Academy 2008.
These selections are based on a two year training and development tenure.
Selections are:
Matthew GOODGER Southland
Tim BAKER Otago
Craig HUTCHISON Canterbury
Brent KING Wairarapa Bush
Zarne JOHNSON Hawkes Bay
Luke PRANGLEY North Harbour
Antony PETRIE Counties Manukau
They will join the 2007 inductees: Hayden SMITH (North Harbour), Caleb HAMILTON (Auckland), Grant STUART (Waikato), Richard KELLY (Taranaki), Hamish MEXTED (Wellington), Matthew MUIR (Canterbury), and Michael LASH (West Coast)
14 of the ‘inaugural' Academy members will graduate/exit at the end of 2007, so that 2008 will see a total of 14 Academy members, as above.
Academy Head Coaches are:
Chris STUART Northern
Graham TEMPLETON Central
Kevin ROWE Southern
A three day National Camp, is planned for early June 2008, based at NZRU offices, in Wellington.
COUNTIES MANUKAU RUGBY REFEREE GEAR GIFTED TO TONGA
Referee Education Officer Kerry Petrie presenting Counties Manukau referee apparel to the Chairman of the Tongan referees, Mikimeta Muna
Recently, a large quantity of referee apparel was gifted to the referees in Tonga by the Counties Manukau Rugby Referees Association.
This came about following the major sponsor of the CMRRA, AMI Insurance, upgrading their company logo and going through considerable expense to replace all the CMRRA gear that their logo was branded on.
To ensure that only there new logo be shown, AMI Insurance requested that the replaced CMRRA gear no longer be used. As a result the CMRRA executive asked for all their referees to return their old gear, with the decision made to gift the returned gear to the Tongan referees.
44 jerseys, 24 pairs of shorts, 23 tracksuit tops, socks and touch judge flags are now in the possession of the Tongan Referee Education Officer, ‘Etoni Tonga.
“On behalf of the Tonga Rugby Union and the Tongan Rugby Referees Association, I would like to thank the Counties Manukau Rugby Union and the Counties Manukau Rugby Referees Association for the generous gift of assorted referee apparel. With limited monetary resource and scarce sponsorship on offer for referees, it is very difficult for the Union and Association to outfit our referees.
With your generous gift, we are now able to outfit the referees in Tonga. Rest assured we shall distribute the apparel to the outer island for the referee’s association to use. Again, thank you for your generous gift”.
Tongan referees Mounga Vea, Tevita Maliukaetau and Mau Kakala dressed in their new referee apparel prior to being involved as sideline officials for the final of the Pacific Rugby Cup final between Tau'uta Reds (Tonga) and Upolu Samoa (Samoa)
Referees Push Boundaries
The Counties Manukau Referee Academy recently spent a day learning techniques on how to control anxiety, how to remain calm under pressure and how to mentally prepare for the refereeing of matches that they believed were outside their personal comfort zones.
Later that day, these techniques were put into practice, when all were encouraged to push beyond their personal fears when performing activities at Camp Adair in Hunua.
“As the level of rugby improves and intensifies, so does the pressure on referees to perform. There is an expectation from players, coaches and spectators that referees not make mistakes and thus many are often critical of errors that are made. This expectation is greater on higher level matches, therefore so does the pressure on officials to ‘get it right’. Those who often make the top tier of refereeing are those that can handle that pressure. How does one handle controlling a match in South Africa where 80,000 people are ‘aiding’ you? That takes strength. How does one remain calm when you know you have made a mistake and those 80,000 people are constantly reminding you of such?”
The aim of the sessions with our referee academy was to provide them with some tools to aid them in working through and managing that pressure. When their personal fears were beaten on the high ropes at Camp Adair, the message was “if you can push beyond what you fear most, you can do anything”.
Referee numbers hit all-time high
Referee numbers have hit a 10–year high, the New Zealand Rugby Union announced today.
NZRU Community Rugby Manager Brent Anderson said a total of 392 new referees had registered with their Provincial Union this year, the highest number of new recruits since the late 1990s and a pleasing increase on the 330 average over the last four years.
“This news is very good for rugby, and particularly for the game at community level. These new referees clearly see refereeing as an option to be involved in rugby, and that is great for the game.”
Anderson said the NZRU introduced a referees’ course titled “You Make The Call” four years ago, as part of the NZRU’s Community Rugby Plan, with the course primarily aimed at secondary school students.
“This NZQA-approved course is run by the referee education officers (REOs) in the various provinces and students are eligible to receive credits towards their NCEA qualifications. It has been one of the contributing factors to the increase.”
Anderson said New Zealand’s referees continue to be recognised at the top level with five New Zealand match officials involved in this year’s Rugby World Cup tournament in France – the most from any country.
In February this year, North Canterbury referee Nicky Inwood made history when she became the first woman to officiate in the Women’s Six Nations and the first woman to referee at Twickenham, refereeing the England v Italy women’s match.
“Just as we strive to be the best performing rugby teams on the world stage, we also aim to have the best match officials. Our commitment and continued investment in community rugby demonstrates that,” Anderson said.
Law Changes – 2008 update (November 2007)
During 2007, the International Rugby Board (iRB) has been trialing a number of proposed rugby law variations with a number of their member nations, including the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU).
NZRU’s trial of these new law variations occurred in the 2007 National Men’s ‘B’ competition that ran from 25 August to 20 October.
Feedback from people involved in this competition is in the process of being assessed by the NZRU with a response from this planned to be provided to the iRB in November.
While the IRB have advised their decision as to what new law will be introduced is likely to be made in April 2008, the implementation of any approved law variations will most likely occur at a later date.
Due to this, it is expected the rugby law that will be applied in the 2008 club and school rugby season will reflect the current law used in 2007.
Petrie in Northern Regions Referee Academy
Counties Manukau Referee Antony Petrie has been named in the Northern Regions Referee Academy which is a talent identification group managed by NZRFU for those referees who they believe have the potential to referee at the highest level. This is a great stepping stone for Antony to achieve his goal of being an Air New Zealand Cup referee.
Kerry Petrie - Referee Education Officer
Rejoining Counties Manukau Rugby Football Union as the Referee Education Officer is local Kerry Petrie, former Policeman, Private Investigator and farmer.
Prior to becoming a rugby referee, Kerry played senior rugby within the Province after which he spent 8 seasons as a coach.
He is now responsible for the recruitment, retention and education of rugby referees within the Counties Manukau and Thames Valley Provinces. Kerry was previously in a similar role based at Waikato and has recently come from a stint with the Auckland Rugby Union. “I am very passionate about Counties Manukau rugby and am wrapped to be back, working for my home union” says Petrie.
In his role as CMRFU REO Kerry has launched a new initiative – the ‘Referee Academy’ which is vital to continue the supply of top quality referees.
“The aim of the academy is to accelerate the growth of talent identified referees with a view of progressing them to senior club status.....and beyond. The training programme has a huge focus on learning how to control a game through the use of Process Management. Areas assisting with this include sessions on maintaining credibility, personal profiling and mental development. All areas are tailored to meet the needs of each individual.”
His long term goal is to fill 90 referee positions so that all games from U/11 to Premier Division will have trained referees.
Kerry is assisting with the running of rugby law classes which are open to club members on Monday nights. Those who are currently attending are aiming to sit and achieve the NZRU Level Two Law exam, which this year is being held in July.
The referees are also fitness training on Tuesday and Thursday nights, 6.00pm at Massey Park, Papakura.
“We currently have a vibrant group, with between 40-50 attending our training and development nights. These sessions well organised and facilitated by training co-ordinator Nigel Bradley and Chairman Glen Blackwell.”
Anyone who is interested in attending the law classes, referee training sessions or becoming a rugby referee should contact kerry.petrie@steelers.co.nz.
