It is a busy time for not only New Zealand’s elite footballers, but also the best referees in the country to show their ability on the world stage.

The New Zealand U-17 women are making headlines in Uruguay, after they defeated Finland 1-0 in their opening game on Wednesday. Also featuring in the tournament is Hamilton referee Sarah Jones as an Assistant Referee. 

“Sarah is the only OFC match official at the tournament and will be placed with a UEFA team,” said Ken Wallace, the Referee Development Manager at NZ Football.

“She is one of eight women officiating at the tournament, who have had a baby in the past year.  She is well into tournament mode with physical training sessions in the morning followed by theory sessions in the afternoon using clips from games.”

The Football Ferns take off to the OFC Women’s Nations Cup today as they look to defend their title and qualify for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup and also the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

There is a strong Kiwi presence in the officials heading to New Caledonia. Nadia Browning (referee), Morgan Archer (referee), Heloise Simons (assistant referee) and Greg Gallop (fitness instructor) are all officiating in the tournament. They are among the nine referees and 10 assistant referees scheduled to be at the tournament. 

Browning, who is in her eighth season on the NWL Panel, has already officiated at the Dallas Cup this year, where she refereed teams from Brazil, England, Mexico and South Africa as well as America.  This will be her fifth OFC tournament going back to 2012, to go with her participation in the 2015 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing. 

By way of contrast Simons, who is in her third year as a NWL assistant referee, will be at her second tournament following the OFC Women’s U-16 Championships in Samoa in August 2017. 

“All three women were equally excited to be going to catch up with their colleagues from the islands, the opportunity to live and breathe football for a couple of weeks and the chance to officiate international games,” said Wallace.  

Archer, who has refereed in the National Women’s League for the past three seasons, said it is a huge honour to represent New Zealand at the tournament.

“Last year I represented New Zealand at the OFC U-19 Championship so this year I have used the National Women’s League to prepare my skills again to get ready for the Nations Cup,” said the 22-year-old, who refereed the Northern Lights taking on Capital last weekend. 

“I am stoked to be selected and I am looking forward to the challenge in New Caledonia. I have the ambition to be a referee at FIFA events, which gives me something to strive for. I will be eligible for FIFA events when I am 25 so events like the Nations Cup are important to continue building my foundation as a referee.”

New Zealand’s premier male referee Matt Conger has been busy in the last few weeks and has plenty of activity to close out the year.

The 40-year-old, who earlier this year represented New Zealand and Oceania at the FIFA World Cup in Russia, recently returned from refereeing two games in the Chinese Professional League (October 20 in Guangzhou and October 28 in Zhengzhou). Following that, he officiated in the Saudi Arabian Professional League.

In between, those internationals, Conger was the Fourth Official when the Wellington Phoenix played the Western Sydney Wanderers in Wellington.

He has also been appointed, with Mark Rule, to the second league of the China FA Cup Final on 30 November and also then leaves for the FIFA Club Word Cup in Abu Dhabi around 5 December.

“This is both a tremendous opportunity for Matt and recognition of his performances both on and off-the-field,” said Wallace.  “We received very positive feedback from the China FA following his games on 20 and 28 October. As such he has been invited, along with Mark Rule, to officiate the second leg final of the China FA Cup competition later this month. Shortly after both he and Mark will be off to Abu Dhabi for the 2018 FIFA Club World Cup.”

Wallace was proud of all of the referees representing New Zealand on the world stage.

“It shows what can be achieved with the support of OFC, plenty of hard work and the effectiveness of the programmes being run in Federations and by New Zealand Football.”

Article added: Friday 16 November 2018