Touch Referees

By Alex Buttery | Posted: Thursday February 7, 2019

Three OBHS students are officiating at the New Zealand Bunnings Junior Nationals being held in Rotorua Feb 8-10th: Logan Whitty, Ben Masterton and Mitchell Lee.

All three boys have been working hard towards this tournament with modules during the weekend and fitness testing throughout summer.

Referees have 4 levels to achieve and each one takes a minimum of a year before you can go to the next level. Level 1 is achieved by attending a full day course about the rules and demonstrating a minimum criteria on the field. L2 has a 2-day practical course and a written exam (which is worth L3 credits) before they have to demonstrate a minimum criteria on the field usually at national tournaments. At this level they can apply for Junior Tours overseas. L3 is all about practical ability on the field and once achieved they can apply for International Representation. L4 is NZ’s highest refereeing award, the Black badge. A previous OBHS student Jayden Hollander achieved his in 2017 and it is a huge achievement.

In the middle of December, the boys again officiated at the NZ Bunnings Secondary Schools Touch Nationals where Ben made his debut as a national referee. Logan Whitty had an outstanding tournament achieving his Level 2 award and being named Junior Referee of the tournament. This was a huge achievement for such a young referee as he beat many other referees who were already at L2. His workmanship, fitness and communication on the field is outstanding and he certainly has a future ahead of him.

Logan has also been selected to referee at the NZ Bunnings National Tournament being held in Rotorua March 1-3rd. As this is a World Cup Year for Touch he will be running with the best referees NZ have to offer and officiating the best players in NZ including many current and former OBHS students.     

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