Led by referee co-ordinator Mitchell Bailey, the group started with just six referees across their entire module and within three seasons this number has grown to 26 referees.
They are a mix of 11 adult referees and 15 youths (aged from 10).
‘‘The growth in these young and older referees has been immense, with many going on to referee at a regional level,’’ says Mr Bailey.
The Southbrook module in the Waimakariri area provides touch on behalf of both Touch Canterbury and Touch New Zealand.
The weekly competitions see 81 teams compete in a junior competition and 24 in a senior grade.
Mr Bailey says the expanding competition has been a success due to the efforts of the committee working to grow referee numbers, and having a supportive group of senior referees who actively engage with coaching the younger members of the team.
‘‘Many of the referees have refereed at a regional level for Touch Canterbury, some are becoming national referees through Touch New Zealand.’’
Having a local business — MainPower
— come on board to sponsor the group had also helped.
He said Mainpower’s contribution has enabled them to buy new uniforms, proper whistles and bands, pay for coaching courses and help with the travel costs to attend tournaments.
The senior referees who coach are Mitchell Bailey, Matt Angown, Hayden de Roo, Rachel Davis, Kaylee Tavendale and Gavin McGiffert.
With the dedicated training programme in place, three of the young referees: Daniel Moore, Tomaz Helm and Sam Wyeth achieved their first Touch New Zealand Badge (Level 1) qualification, Lukas Muir achieved his Level 2.
Hayden de Roo and Ben McLauchlan achieved their Level 3, and both were named in the sports Development High-Performance group.
Mr Bailey was also ranked 10th in NZ, a member of the High-Performance group and has been selected for an upcoming International Touch Series in Australia in May.
‘‘The success of these young referees is a testament to the support they received from across the region and from the local module.
‘‘Southbrook is proud of its group of referees and their achievements and will celebrate their success with anend-ofseason function soon.’’
