Keenan had played premier rugby for Zingari-Richmond and then took up coaching, helping coach the Zingari-Richmond and Harbour premier sides along with Otago colts, schools and under-18 sides.
But with coaching eating up more of his time and having other priorities in his life, three years ago he decided to pick up the whistle and give refereeing a go.
He had no ambitions of wanting to get up the top of the refereeing ladder. It was more about trying to get out and enjoy the game and help out players.
A former front-rower, Keenan (53) said he used his coaching experience during the game which was appreciated.
"With schoolboys you can do a bit of coaching, just look at the scrummaging technique. Show them what is the right way to do it and what you would not get penalised for," he said.
"You get good feedback. The coaches love it as they get someone else talking to the boys and know I’ve coached, so I should have some idea what I am talking about."
He said referees were valuable to the game and he just loved the game and the enjoyment others got out of it.
It helped with his fitness and the players appreciated having a referee for games.Keenan said there was some sideline abuse but nothing he could not handle.
"You are talking about say 5-10% of those that are watching or involved. And once you get out there and the game starts you don’t really hear it. It’s not awful anyway."
Keenan said he was mature enough to ignore it and he said he also could fight fire with fire with a comment or two back to those making some noise on the sideline.