Rugby referees partnership formed

The Namibia Rugby Union (NRU) and the Namibia Rugby Referee Academy (NRRA) have formed a partnership to develop referees throughout the country. 

At a press conference yesterday, NRU vice president Johan Diergaardt announced the ‘strategic partnership’ between the NRU, in collaboration with the Namibia Rugby Referees Society (NRRS) and the NRRA, which is focused on referee development and training.

“The NRU, as the national governing body for rugby in Namibia, has officially recognized the Namibia Rugby Referee Academy as a development partner to support the recruitment and training of new referees across all levels of the game. This initiative aims to strengthen the rugby officiating landscape in Namibia in alignment with World Rugby standards and the NRU’s long-term growth objectives,” he said.

“Through this partnership, the academy will serve as a key platform to increase the number of referees, particularly targeting youth, schools, and community rugby. The NRRS will oversee the delivery of certified referee training, ensuring that all candidates are equipped with the necessary knowledge, practical experience, and compliance with global refereeing protocols.

“The NRU will coordinate national integration and strategic alignment of this referee development initiative within its high-performance and grassroots frameworks,” he added.

Jannie de Beer of the NRRA said referees in Namibia suffer a lot of abuse from spectators.

“I think we’ve got 33 referees in our system. When it comes to the game, there is a lot of abuse happening, and a lot of the training is also to equip those referees and say, ‘Listen, you need to handle the tough stuff as well, because that’s also going to happen. Because in the end, you want a quality referee who can stand his man and can justify why he makes a decision and not just say, ‘I’m not going to take it anymore.’ I know it’s a difficult job, but the idea is to increase those numbers,” he said.

“I understand that the numbers have decreased over the past few years; what the reasons are, I don’t know, and I understand there were also some incidents as far as safety is concerned, and that obviously is the responsibility of the clubs,” he added.

De Beer said the process to produce new referees has already started.

“When we started off, we just wanted to create an awareness of the game itself, so I invited some gentlemen from South Africa to come and do a presentation for us to create an awareness and some excitement about refereeing.

“At that first meeting, there were 31 new prospects, and of them, six or seven have now done World Rugby’s Level One course through the NRU, and two of them are now actually in the system and handling some games. Going forward, I think that process can be quicker, and to do that, it’s just going to be a bit of a mindset that needs to change, but it can definitely be done,” he said.

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