July through September is a busy period for WaiBOP-based match officials. 

During the first week of July WaiBOP Youth Officials Jacob Porter (Waikato) and Olivia Marlowe (BOP) were part of the youth referee academy at Kanga Cup, Canberra. WaiBOP Referee Manager CK Kawana-Waugh attended as a referee coach. 

“Kanga Cup was an excellent opportunity for me to experience tournament football in a different country and to meet like-minded football referees from all over Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong," explained Jacob after the event. 

"The number of games I was fortunate to officiate allowed me to improve my weaknesses and work on the more nuanced aspects of refereeing. Being assessed by a wide range of assessors also provided me with constructive feedback that has helped and will continue to help me in the future as a referee.”

“It was an amazing experience that taught me many important lessons about refereeing," said Olivia. "I met the most amazing and supportive referees and referee coaches. The overall environment of the competition was very positive, and I can't wait to hopefully go back next year.” 

Both officials performed very well and were rewarded for this. Jacob was referee, then assistant referee on the boys U18 semi-final and final, respectively. Olivia refereed the girls U16 semi-final and final. 

Both officials represented WaiBOP Football extremely well on and off the pitch.

Ben Norman was selected to attend the World University Futsal Championships in Portugal. Ben officiated nine matches over siz match days consisting of a variety of roles. His appointment to the women’s semi-final between Brazil and Poland was the highlight. 

“Being my first overseas international tournament was a great experience. Most of the matches were televised and streamed. Being one of two non-FIFA referees meant that I was able to learn a lot,” said Ben on his return to New Zealand.

Anna-Marie Keighley and Sarah Jones were in Fiji for the group stage of the OFC Women’s Nations Cup. Keighley refereed all three Group C matches with Jones as her AR on two of them. They are now in Costa Rica for the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup. This tournament is an important step in the selection process for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.  

CK Kawana-Waugh is currently refereeing at the OFC Champions League, which is being palyed in Auckland. He was referee for the first match between Galaxy (Vanuatu) and Lae City (Papua New Guinea). He will be in Tahiti next month for the OFC U19, Championships which are the qualifiers for the U20 World Cup.