Canterbury refs continue to shine on national stages

A busy representative period at senior, youth and secondary schools level has once again illustrated how Canterbury Rugby League’s outstanding group of referees continue to punch above their weight.

At last month’s NZRL National Secondary Schools Tournament, Canterbury referees filled eight of the 12 appointments across the four grades’ finals.

Second-year referee Cody Docherty, who made his CRL Premier Reserves debut this season, promising female referee Aleigha MacDonald-Cope and first-year referee Noah Mutu were among those to chalk up personal milestones at the tournament.

Mutu made his debut with the whistle during the 15s tournament – supported on the touchlines by leading Canterbury ref Jack Feavers, an NRLW and NSW Cup touch judge, and former NRL and international touch judge Chris McMillan.

Canterbury’s refereeing group shouldered the entire load at the NZRL National Men’s Premierhsip South Island tournament at Ngā Puna Wai.

Feavers, along with outstanding young trio Luke Whittaker, Porfi Vivas and Micah Lepou, and local stalwart Daryl Mataiti controlled all seven matches between them, while veteran officials Owen Harvey and Richard Hurst-Long also ran the touchlines.

Two weeks later in Auckland, Feavers controlled the semifinal between the Trillo Metals Men’s Canterbury Bulls and Auckland Vulcans and the third-place playoff between the Bulls and Otago Whalers (with Whittaker as a touch judge for the latter), before backing up as a touch judge for the final between the Vulcans and Counties Manukau Stingrays.

The Canterbury presence was equally prominent at the NZRL National Youth Tournament played over the ensuing few days at Bruce Pulman Park.

Whittaker, who was later named Referee of the Tournament, handled the 18s Boys Final (main image) as part of an all-Canterbury team with Feavers and Lepou (who refereed one of the semis) his touch judges. Vivas featured in the 16s Boys Final, while MacDonald-Cope – who received the Referees’ Choice of the Tournament award – was part of the officiating team for the 18s Girls final and refereed a 16s Girls match for the first time.  

Meanwhile, Docherty picked up the Young Referee of the Tournament award.

As highlighted by CRL in July, Canterbury – courtesy of Feavers, Whittaker, Vivas and Lepou – has the highest representation of any region in the NZRL Referees Academy, which provides invaluable guidance, development and pathways opportunities for our game’s match officials.

NZRL Referees’ Manager Alan Caddy is full of praise for the group of Canterbury referees’ progress and achievements, as well as their contribution to the Academy.

“It’s been very pleasing, the Academy has about 14 members and the Canterbury referees have been a big part of that in the last few years, starting with Jack before the other three came in,” Caddy says.

“We meet every Thursday night online, go through and analyse what’s happened and what we could improve – it’s been very pleasing that all the boys from the Canterbury have come online and they’re very enthusiastic and add to our meetings every week.

“The [young referees] want to know things and learn off people like Jack, and we have Paki Parkinson and Chris McMillan in our group, who help guide them through situations and any questions they’ve got, which helps their game in general for moving forward.”

As well as the extensive domestic representative appointments attained by our referees, Feavers has developed into an experienced and respected official at NSWRL and NRLW level, Vivas has refereed Harold Matthews Cup (NSWRL under-17s) matches, Whittaker was set to make his NSWRL junior reps debut this year before weather intervened, and Lepou controlled Warriors pathways matches in Christchurch in June.

That progress illustrates not only the exceptional batch of talented referees that have emerged, but also the invaluable leadership provided by the likes of Feavers and Mataiti, and the success of the pathways system put in place and opportunities available beyond refereeing locally in Canterbury.

“It shows you what can happen with referees if they want to move forward – and that it can be done from all over the country,” Caddy says.

“It’s a big commitment, but obviously [refereeing in the NRL] is the goal for everyone. So this is what we’re trying to provide for our referees in New Zealand, so that we can get a pathway to get into competitions like the NRL.”