With roughly 135 referees appointed to games in our region each week, is the Canterbury Rugby Referee Association quickly becoming the new club everyone wants to be a part of?

Allan Stead, Canterbury Rugbys Game Developer – Match Officials, who is witnessing the growth in referees around Canterbury first hand said “there’s been a whole range come in this year. School students who are keen to take up the whistle, parents who have finished coaching their kids, and a huge variety of people who want to do it”. 45 new referees have registered this season, along with four members returning after time away. Combined with the NCEA accredited course “You Make The Call”, aiding Canterbury High School students to learn the art of rugby refereeing, makes 2025 our best year of recruitment for officials yet.

Ex-player and coach, Karen Humm is one of those who picked up the whistle for the first time this season, “My passion has always been rugby” said Humm who saw refereeing as a fitting way to give back to the sport. “Looking at the game from a different aspect has been a challenge. But it’s been made so much easier because of the support from the group out here” said Humm, “I’ve found the North Canterbury group exceptionally supportive”.

With 15 years of experience being the man in the middle, Dan Moore’s highlights have been controlling the Bascik Transport Metro final in 2024, where Linwood won the competition for the first time in 50 years and 2019’s Christchurch Boys’ High V Christ College, “the atmosphere that comes with those games is incredible, those occasions always makes you want to go up another level”.

Moore has seen it all, from First XV to Heartland and Super Aupiki to the World 10s series, “I’ve been all around the country, I’ve been overseas through refereeing, I’ve got friends scattered all across the world purely through refereeing. It’s kind of like this secret society. I had no idea when I first started. It’s pretty special.”
“People see refereeing as an isolation on the field but what they don’t necessarily see is the social side of it and the connections that happen” continued Moore, “There are so many touch points in the week, it’s certainly a really strong community amongst the group”.
Although in her first year, Humm already echoes Moore's sentiments, “That’s the bit I love about what I do. Being a part of that team. We are a team and I love being in a team and this group to me, that’s my team”.

It’s well known that games can not happen without referees giving up their time and club rugby certainly doesn’t come with TMO’s. Stead suggests simply supporting our match officials goes a long way, “Support the referee the same way you support the players. Realise that players will make mistakes, and so will the referee. We’re certainly not going out there to make mistakes on purpose. We learn from them. But if you’ve got someone jumping up and down on the sideline, it doesn’t help the situation at all.”

What began in 2021 as a simple idea between Canterbury Rugby and Principal Partner Ray White has grown into one of the most visible and impactful sideline behaviour campaigns in New Zealand sport. The ‘Keep it Positive’ campaign was created with a clear mission: to eliminate poor sideline behaviour in junior rugby and help foster a fun, safe, and encouraging environment for young players. It started with 400 bright yellow bibs. Coaches and referees across the region began wearing these bibs instead of club colours, sending a powerful unified message that we’re all here to help everyone enjoy the game.
“When we keep the game experience positive for our youngest players, we’re growing a love for sport that can last a lifetime,” says Alice Mackenzie, Regional Engagement Manager for Ray White. “It’s about more than just the game. It’s about creating communities where kids feel supported, valued, and inspired to keep showing up.” With nearly 2,000 bright yellow bibs now being worn front and centre across all grades at our clubs, and our Canterbury Rugby teams wearing them during warm up and on the sideline, it's fair to say the growth has been exponential and the impact has been felt.

Camaraderie is a word thrown around a lot in team sports, and in our code it’s especially important. Having your team mates back metaphorically and literally can make all the difference to the score board, as well as their safety on the field. The latter is where our referees come into play. Referees have a responsibility to be at every single ruck, break down and sprint to the try line, as well as the mental load of being acutely aware of all laws of the game, managing up to 30 players at any given time, along with a desire to keep the game flowing as much as possible for 80 minutes. It’s a huge task for one person.

Although, it isn’t.

It may look as though there is one referee on the field but what you don’t see is the team they have behind them, supporting and growing together. There are referees for substitution control, referees who coach those in their apprenticeship years and others who have hung up the whistle yet still attend meetings to impart their knowledge. “We’re actually refs because we love the sport and we’re there because we want to facilitate games for those that love the sport”, said Humm, “we want to support you, so please just support us. That’s the bit I think that somewhere along the way has been lost in translation”.

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Words by Hannah Yates