Northern NSW Football (NNSWF) is pleased to announce the Newcastle Permanent Community Referee of the Month for June 2017 across the zones on the eve of the Newcastle Permanent Referee Recognition Week next week.
“Match Officials have one of the hardest jobs in sport. Mark has shown that he takes the role of Match Official very seriously and his dedication, passion and commitment contributes significantly to the positive football experience enjoyed by the players and spectators of matches he officiates,” NNSWF Community Football Manager Peter Haynes commented.
Each winner will be presented a prize pack including a jacket, cap, water bottle and a referee card set to assist in fulfilling their valuable duties on and off the field.
From the pool of monthly winners, a “Newcastle Permanent Referee of the Year” for each Zone will be recognised at the Northern NSW Football Annual Awards Night.
Newcastle Permanent CEO Terry Millett echoes Haynes’ sentiments and applauds the volunteers who received the award.
“Referees are often unappreciated and under a lot of pressure. It’s great to see recognition for referees who are respected by their peers and players,” Millett said.
The June Newcastle Permanent Community Referee of the Month Award recipients from across each of its seven Member Zones are as follows:
Mick Smith
Football Far North Coast
Mick is a great role model and makes a contribution that is more than his performances on the field in applying the Laws of the Game. Mick has a good sense of how to apply an appropriate balance between allowing the players to compete, and players appreciate this.
Mick also engages and supports the younger assistant referees and is also active in the broader educational needs of match officials. Although Mick has a demanding professional role in his employment, he is enthusiastic and available on most weekends to officiate. In addition to being a match official, Mick also coaches Lennox Head FC women’s premier division and was named Coach of the Year for the female premier division in 2016.
Julian Neilson
Football Mid North Coast
Julian has refereed now for approx 3 years and has made considerable progress with thanks to mentoring of our Senior referees. Julian turns up to the fields on Saturday morning, early as usual and assists to set up the fields and anything else he can do as a volunteer. Julian always puts his hands up to take on extra work and steps up to the challenge. On Wednesday night, at short notice, Julian had to take the Centre for the first time in a Senior Ladies Match (due to the Senior referee not being available), although a little nervous he took on the challenge and did a fantastic job Well done. We thank you, Julian, for everything you do and hope you continue refereeing for years to come.
Benjamin Sullivan
Hunter Valley Football
Benjamin has been a referee with Hunter Valley for a number of years now. He not only travels to games where no one else wants to go but he always does it in a professional way helping out to make the appointments officers job easier. He takes on any game given to him, in the same manner, gaining respect from all involved. He steps up to help guide the new officials that are appointed to his games with coaching and advice and always sets a good example. Ben goes about his duties in a very humble manner also.
Ryan Feenan
Macquarie Football
Ryan has refereed MiniRoos at our club for the last two seasons whenever his draw has allowed. He rarely misses a week and will show up to referee just one game.
He is eager to encourage the players and has a strong sense of “Fair Play” which shows through in his attitude to Football in general.
We regularly receive positive feedback from Coaches on how much the players enjoyed the game Ryan has refereed and how helpful he is with teaching the rules to young players.
On top of this, he encourages the other MiniRoos referees. When it comes time to allocate games we may want a newer referee to step up to a higher age group.
Ryan will gladly referee U6’s and 7’s and let the newer referee do an older game, even though you can see he would much prefer the older games.
I have encouraged him to take the next step and follow the “Official Referee “ path, which I hope he does next season. Not just for his own benefit but for the benefit of Football. I highly recommend Ryan for the “Referee of the Month” as I think he embodies the character that Football is looking for in young people these days.
Georgia McMahon
Newcastle Football
I’ve had the wonderful pleasure of watching Georgia referee and being referred by her. I believe she is a great female role model and shows high levels of maturity and diligence every time she walks out onto the pitch.
She referees on short notice, volunteers every time there is an opportunity to referee and never lets you down. She demonstrates great qualities and always gets the job done.
Her passion and love for the game is seen through her referring even when someone from the crowd gets a temper on Georgia, she has the drive to strive to keep going and ignore the hateful things people say about her.
I believe that she is a respectful, hard working and fair referee who applies herself fully to each game to referee to the best of her ability. For these reasons, I believe that Georgia is the perfect candidate for the community referee of the month.
Dakoda Bennett
North Coast Football
Dakoda is new to refereeing this season and enjoys all aspects of football. He is mature, reliable, enthusiastic and very keen to develop his referring ability. Dakoda is an aspiring young referee who is an integral part of young football referee’s on the North Coast. His positivity and enthusiasm for football will see him go along way.
Lachlan Smith
Northern Inland Football
Lachlan is a very talented young Referee who has been officiating at the top level in NIF since he was 17. Lachlan is very approachable and willing to share his experiences and knowledge with younger match officials. He provides all match officials with something to aim for.
