The Gunnedah-based John McKay is about to join a select group of people to have played and officiated at first grade level in the Central North Rugby Union (CNRU) competition.
McKay has been appointed to referee Saturday’s first grade clash involving the Narrabri Blue Boars and Moree Bulls at Narrabri Rugby Club, after officiating reserve grade fixtures earlier in the season.
Having played two years of reserve grade and two years of first grade for the Gunnedah Red Devils, McKay juggled playing and refereeing duties for two years before hanging up the boots at the start of this year and focusing on refereeing.
McKay officiated junior matches and women’s fixtures last year and the year before, and has stepped up to the senior men’s grades this year.
McKay said one reason he took up refereeing was because there weren’t many young referees in the CNRU.
By his own admission, McKay was a vocal player which was another reason he took up the whistleblowing role.
“I thought ‘I can’t just sit back and complain all the time about the refs’,” he said.
“I thought ‘I’ve got to do something, and be part of the solution’.
“It’s good enough to scratch my itch if I’m not playing.”
McKay said he found refereeing was very rewarding although “it all depends how much you put in”.
“For me I’m a very competitive person in every sport I play,” he said.
“I want to do my best as a referee. I take my competitiveness into refereeing, and do the best I can.”
Having played in the five-eighth role, McKay said he thought this helped him “interpret the game a fair bit” which helped his refereeing, in terms of knowing where the ball was going.
“A lot of the adjusting is your positioning on the field, and (knowing) where to be is the hardest part, for me to get used to,” he said.
A thick skin is required to be a referee, according to McKay, who said he needed to “ignore the crowd” while the spectators often couldn’t see certain things.
“I think everyone does forget referees are human too, and they make mistakes,” he said.
McKay suggested it be compulsory for all coaches and captains to do a level 1 refereeing course, to enabled them to understand the referees better.
“A lot of the times they’re not agreeing with what we’re doing, and there’s always a reason why we’re doing it,” he said.
“More understanding of why refs are doing what they are, would go a long way to silence the critics.”
As for whether the referees should give explanations, McKay said this needed to be handled a certain way.
“It all depends on the type of game, because the good teams will take advantage if they know you are giving explanations all the time,” he said.
“They’ll use that as a game tactic to slow the game down.
“So as a ref you’ve got to be understanding of when you can allow a captain to come and talk to you, and when to butt him out and just to say ‘we’re playing on’.
“If the game slows down you might have time to talk.
“I’m pretty strict on reading the game, about knowing if they’re wasting game time.”
McKay said there was “game awareness of a referee to understand how teams work and what their tactics are” while “good captains know when to talk to the ref”.
While saying he liked to have a good rapport with the captains and would ask them before a game if they wanted to highlight anything, McKay stressed that the referees should adapt to the way teams played.
“Teams will complain about not getting certain penalties but then people complain there’s too many penalties if you pick up every single infringement, and (in that case) we’re not going to have a game,” he said.
“It’s about picking up the ones you think are having an impact on the game.
“And sometimes the crowds don’t agree with it.
“When it comes down to critical moments in games, you’ve got to be on your toes.”
While swearing from players was common on the field, McKay said it was often a case of frustration and wasn’t always directed at the referee.
“Normally if someone swears at me, I will generally find out if it was at me or just in frustration,” he said.
“If I find that it was directed at me I will first determine how bad it was.
“If it was mild (I give a) yellow card, if not red card.”
McKay encouraged people, especially youngsters, to come on board and do a referee’s course.
