Many opportunities in refereeing

Above: Last year's WRFU Referee of the Year Ben O'Keeffe officiating the Jubilee Cup Final between Marist St. Pat's and Oriental-Rongtotai

Love the game and want to get involved? Club Rugby recently chatted with top local referee Ben O’Keeffe about how he started refereeing, what he enjoys about it and what opportunities are available for people who want to get involved. ?

New to Wellington last year, O’Keeffe quickly impressed and officiated last year’s Jubilee Cup Final between Marist St. Pat’s and Oriental Rongotai, before going on to win the Wellington Rugby Football Union’s 2012 Referee of the Year award. ?

His start to 2013 will be delayed however as he’s currently recuperating from knee surgery.“I injured my knee in November playing touch rugby on the artificial turf,” he explained. “I tried to step off my right foot - imitating some of the club rugby players of course - and I blew out my ACL.”

He’s optimistic about a return around the middle of the year. “It’s such a common injury now that people have shown that they can come back to play top level rugby, and as a referee there is not as much demand on my knees so I’ll be back later this year I hope.”

In the meantime he’s busy enough with his burgeoning medical career. Currently a house doctor at Wellington Hospital, O’Keeffe relocated to Wellington from Dunedin at the start of last year.

He picked up the whistle for the first time while a student at medical school. He explained that he got into refereeing in his second year at Otago University after taking the first year off from playing to concentrate on his studies.

“I grew up in Blenheim and played second five-centre for most of my college playing career and played U18s for Marlborough. We also had a few in our group playing high level rugby now, such as Blues hooker Quentin McDonald and Highlanders lock/flanker Joe Wheeler.

“After a year off I went to a few Varsity trial games early on in my second year but I found that I had lost some my enthusiasm for playing.

“My father was a top local referee, and he always said that the one regret that he had in not taking it to a higher level was that he didn’t start young enough - so he kind of put that in my mind and I thought I’d give refereeing a go.”

He took to it quickly and spent the next few seasons refereeing Senior and Premier club rugby in Dunedin before moving to Wellington at the start of last year.

Once he’s back on his feet of course, O’Keefe is keen to continue to juggle the busy demands of being a medical professional with furthering his referee career. Auckland first-class referee Dr. Jonathon White springs to mind. “He acts as a mentor for me and he has shown me the path to make that happen.”

Asked what he enjoys most about refereeing Premier rugby he explained that the passion of supporters and community spirit is a big lift.

“As well as being in the middle of the field with the players, I love the interaction with the community and the supporters. I enjoy the after-matches where you meet a lot of the locals. As a referee in Wellington you get lots of variety going to all the different clubs. When you go around New Zealand you realise that everyone is really passionate about rugby, which is a reminder of why you enjoy it.”

“One thing about coming to Wellington is the passion of everyone here. The supporters are just so into their rugby that wherever you go you still get a really supportive atmosphere and that’s great.”

For development as a referee, nothing beats being out there on the field. But O’Keeffe also said that watching rugby on television is beneficial.

“With my goals being to further my career, I am trying to get the best out of every game that I can. When I’m watching a game, especially now with My Sky, I will quite often be rewinding it and seeing where the referee is coming from.

“You also realise that refereeing is quite subjective; not every referee is correct. But you do pick up on a lot of good things when you watch the guys like Chris Pollock, Bryce Lawrence and Craig Joubert. With communication equipment as well you do pick up a lot of stuff.”

O’Keeffe also says Sevens rugby is also a great way to get involved.“Sevens used to be a pathway for international professional referees, where you could sort of get international experience on the Sevens circuit for a while and then make a transition into Super Rugby. This is what referees like Garratt Williamson and Mike Fraser did.

“Now that Sevens has taken off for players, so have the opportunities for refereeing it.

“One example is James McPhail, who is one of the top Sevens referees in the world and lives in Wellington. I think for fit, young guys it’s a really good way to get experience. There’s also the lure of going to the Olympics as a referee.”?

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Want to become a referee this year?

Contact the Referee Education Officer, David Walsh, on 0800 REFEREE (0800 7333733) for more details.

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