Stuck in the middle with you

12 Mar 2015 by Michael Gosman

The players maybe the drawcard of the National Touch League at the C.ex Coffs International Stadium but there is a group of volunteers who play a big part in the delivery of the tournament – the referees.

More than 150 referees will take part at this year’s event with many of them using this week as preparation for the 2015 Touch World Cup in April.

One of whom is English referee Shelley Grace.

She and fellow English referee, Nicholas Richardson, are in Coffs Harbour to get some “work in the legs” prior to the sport’s international showpiece.

“Over in Europe it is our winter so we don’t have much game time. We are out here to get a bit of coaching from the top referee coaches and get a bit of game time from the top quality games,” she said.

She is looking forward to officiating the different style of the games.

“They will be different to what we used to. They will be well-drilled teams, it will be a bit of a shock to the system initially and I think the heat will be a shock to the system. But it’s good to be here at a big scale event.”

Federation of International Touch director of referees Ian Matthew said this week’s NTL was vital for referees’ World Cup preparation.

“We’ve got the World Cup squads here, apart from the ones who are injured and going through,” Matthew said.

“This week we will be identifying the referees with the tactics some of the teams are playing. Getting them to work as a community and as a group, and trying to get the best out of them as well.”