Canberra and District Rugby League Referees Association
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Canberra and District Rugby League Referees Association Annual Report 2018 Canberra and District Rugby League REFEREES ASSOCIATION 2018 80th Annual Report (Published February 2019) Proudly Sponsored by Raiders Club Group (Gungahlin) ActewAGL Canberra Raiders Canberra Region Rugby League CONTENTS BOARD OF MANAGEMENT 2018 ......................................................................... 3 EXECUTIVE OFFICER'S REPORT ........................................................................ 4 DIRECTOR OF REFEREES ................................................................................... 8 DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF REFEREES ................................................................. 10 DIRECTOR MARKETING & MEMBER SERVICES ............................................. 11 DIRECTOR RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION .................................................. 12 FINANCIAL REPORT ........................................................................................... 14 BALANCE SHEET ............................................................................................................................. 15 PROFIT & LOSS STATEMENT ............................................................................................................ 16 AUDIT REPORT – LES ELLIS & ASSOCIATES ..................................................................................... 17 APPOINTMENTS - 2018 ...................................................................................... 18 CRRL SENIOR LEAGUE GRAND FINALS ............................................................................................ 18 CRRL JUNIOR LEAGUE GRAND FINALS ............................................................................................ 22 ASSOCIATION HONOUR ROLLS ....................................................................... 25 LIFE MEMBERS .................................................................................................................................... 25 JIM MAHONEY SHIELD – OUTSTANDING SERVICE TO THE ASSOCIATION................................................................. 26 JACK MCKIE OAM MEMORIAL TROPHY – MOST IMPROVED SENIOR REFEREE ........................................................ 27 BRUCE CHAPMAN SHIELD – MOST IMPROVED JUNIOR REFEREE ......................................................................... 28 NEVILLE NORRIS SHIELD – ROOKIE OF THE YEAR ........................................................................................... 29 NEVILLE ‘CHIEF’ HARRADINE – ENCOURAGEMENT AWARD ................................................................................ 29 ALAN HODGE FAMILY AWARD .................................................................................................................. 29 NOEL BISSETT TROPHY – A GRADE REFEREE ............................................................................................. 30 KEITH GEGG – TOUCH JUDGE AWARD ........................................................................................................ 30 Canberra District Rugby League Referees Association Inc. - Annual Report 2018 Page 2 of 32 BOARD OF MANAGEMENT 2018 Chairman David ADAMS Executive Officer Chris NIGHTINGALE Director Finance Martin JONES Director Executive Support Katherine NIGHTINGALE Director of Referees Jo WEST Deputy Director of Referees James GOULD Director Operations Mark RYAN Director Recruitment and Retention Matthew HALL Director Marketing and Member Services Jo WEST General Board Member Houshyar FALLAH Member, CRRL Board of Management Chris NIGHTINGALE DELEGATES NSWRLRA : Adam WILLIAMS, Dave CHARMAN Auditors Les ELLIS & Associates Appointments Board / : David ADAMS, Geoff MILCZUK, Chris NIGHTINGALE, Mark Referees Coaches RYAN, Phil STUART, Jo WEST Schools Coordinator : Mark RYAN Canberra District Rugby League Referees Association Inc. - Annual Report 2018 Page 3 of 32 EXECUTIVE OFFICER'S REPORT I begin by thanking our Sponsors, the Raiders ‘Jim Mahoney’ Trophy Group and ActewAGL and the support we receive Outstanding Service from NSWRL Referees Association and the Canberra Region Rugby League. 2018 was not a good year for recruitment as despite running three (3) courses during the year only eleven (11) new members attended those courses. This was a significant reduction from previous years and will have an impact upon our resources going into the future. The NRL in 2019 have introduced a revised Foundation 1 Referee course which will be offered and make it easier to register and complete. A major challenge for not only our Association, but all grass-roots Referees Associations across Australia is the retention of younger members through to senior football. As with most sporting codes there has been a steady decline of match officials transitioning from junior football and unfortunately this is not keeping pace with retirements. The new National Match Officials Structure was introduced, with revised Referees Accreditation courses and locally the implementation of a Presented to Life Member Referees Academy by NSWRL to support those in Phillip STUART the pathways program. This has now been complemented during the “off season” with an ‘Bruce Chapman’ Trophy - Emerging Referees Academy being run at the Most Improved Junior University of Canberra and a Women in League Referee Officiating program at the AIS in October. In addition to this the NRL have also announced a partnership with University of Queensland and locally the Country Universities Centre to provide educational support for Referees. All of these initiatives go towards a Pathway for Referees from grassroots to elite level. This highlights the possibilities that exist for ex-players that you don’t need to be a player to participate at the highest levels of Rugby League in Australia. Gage MILES Presented by Oliver LEVIDO Canberra District Rugby League Referees Association Inc. - Annual Report 2018 Page 4 of 32 Retention is a priority for all Referees Associations ‘Neville Norris’ Shield - and cannot occur without the support and Rookie of the Year assistance from local leagues and Clubs. We are thank full of the support received from the Canberra Raiders and Canberra Region Rugby League but this is sadly lacking from some Clubs who see Referees as an adversary, rather than a partnership in the game of Rugby League. There are still too many incidents of crowd abuse towards touch judges and referees and whilst we encourage our members to concentrate on the game and leave the crowd and team officials to Ground Managers, the Thomas BELL “noise” does still affect our members. We had a couple of members pull out of refereeing due to this Presented by Life Member Glyn “noise”. I call it “noise” because it is generalised HENDERSON verbal abuse rather than an “in your face” stand-up abuse which the League have been very good in dealing with. We already have a very high turnover ‘Jack McKie’ Award - Most rate of young referees. Traditionally 75% of new Improved Senior Referee recruits are under the age of 18 and by the time they have built up the confidence and competency to referee senior football only about 10% remain as match officials. There are numerous reasons for this reduction, such as abuse, school & work pressures, social interactions, part time work requirements and we urge all clubs to actively promote to their players & members the benefits of becoming a match official. Without the support of clubs, the number of referees will continue to fall meaning that their Steve ZORZI players in which they have invested a lot of time and money in, will have no game to play. We already Presented by Life Member have a significant number of members refereeing David COOK Friday nights, Saturday and Sunday and running for up to 15 hours each weekend which is significantly Neville “Chief” Harradine’ more than a player might be involved. This amount Award - Encouragement of running is also taking a physical toll on their Award injuries which then affects their availability each weekend. 2019 will be a VERY challenging season. We saw some exceptionally high standard games refereed during the final series across all age groups. It is true that the ability of the players and coaches contributed to this, but without a match official to control the game those games would not have been possible. A number of our members continue to excel at the top level - Ben CUMMINS Jessica CHARMAN and Phil HENDERSON at the NRL level and Martin & Heather HALL JONES in the NSWRL High Performance Squad as well as Ben SEPPALA and Elijah FERNANCE in the Presented by Life Member NSWRL Junior Reps. Mark RYAN Canberra District Rugby League Referees Association Inc. - Annual Report 2018 Page 5 of 32 2018 also saw us move our training venue from Northbourne Oval to Raiders HQ, Bruce for which we thank the Canberra Raiders for the use of the NRL facilities and we look forward to moving back to Northbourne Oval when it becomes the Raiders Centre of Excellence. Alan Hodge Family Award A challenge for all Referee Associations is to differentiate what you see on television to what is played at the grass roots level, whether that be U6’s or A Grade. In the words of the NRL’s 2018 promotion, it is “A Different League”, and players, coaches, parents & spectators need to take this on board. I am very pleased to say that the cooperation and respect between the Canberra District Rugby League Referees Association and the Canberra Region Rugby League is in my opinion the best in CRL and NSWRL. Thank you to Noel BISSETT, John WHAREHINGA