International opportunities present amongst the Canterbury Rugby Referees Association

With borders reopening in 2022, international opportunities have returned for the Canterbury Rugby Referees Association, with exchanges restarted with both Kansai in Osaka, Japan and the Queensland Rugby Referees in Brisbane, Australia.

As a group of volunteers, the Referees Association works hard to provide opportunities to reward and recognize referees that have given significant time to our game or to who may benefit from the opportunity to travel abroad and continue their development.

Recently, over 10 days towards the end of June, Rob Goodman (Ellesmere) and Josh Bamber (Metro) had the privilege to represent the association in Brisbane, with the Queensland exchange going for over 40 years.

They officiated in 10 games and experienced a wide range of rugby and extra-curricular activities, following in the footsteps of many well known Canterbury Referees.

Having this chance allows referees to get out of their comfort zone and referee a new style of rugby, as well as escaping the typical cold snap that comes with rugby in June.

In addition to the international opportunities present for our referees, there are also a number of opportunities domestically too.

This season, referees from throughout Canterbury also had the opportunity to travel to North Harbour, Auckland, Wellington, Otago and Southland, providing an opportunity to experience different rugby, but also meet new people and get an experience not available if they were to play or coach.

As a part of these exchanges, referees also come the other way, which may explain a couple of the new jerseys you may have seen out in the middle over the last few weeks.