NRF’s own Education Officer for Community Officials Beth Rattray recently passed her Level 4 Refereeing Badge, making her one of the few women in New Zealand with that qualification. Refereeing is a fantastic pathway to contributing to the game, with the potential to be involved at higher and higher levels. 

“My goal is getting my FIFA badge and be involved in a FIFA tournament - it'll be difficult but you have to work hard at it,” said Beth.  “I get nervous for every game, because you obviously want to do well, and you feel the pressure like you would as a player. But once you're out there, like a player, once you blow the whistle you go into your routine and crack on with it. You definitely feel the pressure of making a mistake, but we have techniques to work around those.” 

Recently, Beth was selected to officiate at the inaugural OFC Champions League, a five team round robin competitions, with five match days and ten matches over ten days. 

“At this level you specialise as an assistant or a referee, I went over to referee. We arrived a few days before before the tournament started, and had some training and classroom sessions before getting into the tournament,” said Beth.  

Coming out of the New Zealand winter to officiate in Papua New Guinea was a shock weather-wise. "Apparently it wasn't that hot for the locals but it was very hot for us, usually around the early 30s. I had three matches in the middle, and in the third it was about 35 degrees, and very humid.” “Port Morseby was amazing, everyone was really friendly, very accommodating and we were well looked after with security and everything, never felt unsafe or anything.” 

Beth was involved throughout the tournament, alongside fellow Kiwi referee Allys Clipsham, and was in the middle for the tournament deciding last match. “You work with different assistants each time, which is also a cool dynamic. Sometimes the language barriers are interesting, I refereed the team that won quite a bit, they're from New Caledonia, so speak French, and as a referee you want to pick up some stuff.” 

“There was an opening ceremony, with speeches and people dressed up, it was really  interesting to see and experience some of the different cultures. Plus we got to spend time with officials from Tonga, Tahiti, Fiji and Solomon Islands. When we go away, we are the team, you learn about other people's cultures and get to hang out with them.”

Find out more about getting involved with refereeing. 

Article added: Tuesday 01 August 2023