TTRA Referees Bulletin - April 2024

As always, if you have any questions, queries, or comments, please let us know by emailing operations@ttra.org.au.

In case you missed it… there’s been a whole heap of achievements for our referees in the last few months!

February saw Michael Littlefield appointed to referee the Touch Football All Stars match, which was held as a curtain raiser to the NRL All Stars at QLD Country Bank Stadium. Lachlan Carey was also appointed to the match as the standby referee.

March saw seven of our referees off the Touch Football Australia’s new format of the National Touch League, now known as “The Championships”. Two of our referees were rewarded for their hard work and successfully upgraded to the highest level of accreditation possible in our sport – Level 6! Congratulations to Bailey Sloman and Lachlan Carey!

March was a busy month for our association, with 20 new referees completing their Level 1 face-to-face sessions, and 9 referees completing their Level 2 theory components.

March also saw Lachlan Carey announced as the latest member of Touch Football Australia’s National Referee Academy, where he joins another one of our members – Charlise Falconer.

Lachlan and Charlise were also announced alongside Kurtis Sankey and Michael Littlefield as part of Australia’s contingent of referees appointed to the 7th Touch Football World Cup, and will make their way over to Nottingham, England in July!

Earlier in April, two of our referees completed their Level 3 theory components and are now well on their way to achieving their upgrades.

Last weekend’s Junior State Cup North also saw two of our referees successfully upgraded to Level 2 – congratulations Greta Ramsay and Max Hoover! The same event saw our own Shanae Fitzgerald recognised as the “Most Promising Female Referee” in North Queensland!

And finally, to round out the list of achievements… congratulations to former TTRA member Wyatt Raymond, who made his debut as an NRL referee in the Storm v Bulldogs clash on Friday 12 April!

A gentle reminder to everyone that in order to be paid for refereeing, you must complete your TTRA membership application form.

Register now via https://ttra.au/register.

All memberships expire on the 31st of December each year, so if you haven’t completed your membership form in 2024, please do so now!

In order to be paid for the matches you officiate, you must have:

1. Completed your TTRA membership form this year; AND
2. Completed your scorecard correctly, which includes:
   1. Your name, clearly written (if we can’t read it, then we can’t determine it was you who refereed!);
   2. The final score, written in the boxes provided; and
   3. (If you are refereeing a Colliers Shield match) the name of a “Best & Fairest” player clearly written at the bottom of the scorecard.

Remember – you won’t be paid for a match unless all of the above is done!

Match payments will be made within a few weeks of the end of the season to all referees who completed their membership forms by Grand Final day. If you are late to complete your membership, your payment will be delayed as a result.

Scorecards: Completing them correctly

Recently, we’ve had a number of referees forgetting a few scorecard basics, so here’s a quick reminder!

1. Referee names:
   1. Make sure the name of each referees is clearly written on the scorecard.
   2. If you are replacing a referee, cross their name out and write your own.
2. Check the scores and get agreement from the coach/manager/team
   1. If the teams agree with the score, circle “Accepted”. If not, and it cannot be resolved, then circle “Disputed” and write the name of the team underneath.
3. Final score:
   1. Make sure you write the final score into the boxes provided.
   2. Make sure the score you write matches the tallies in the grid! (it might sound silly, but we’ve had a few counting errors already!)
4. Best & Fairest Players (COLLIERS SHIELD ONLY):
   1. Choose a player from the match that was the “best and fairest” and write their first and last name, and their club/team at the bottom of the card.
   2. If you don’t know the player’s name, ask them or a someone from their team. DO NOT WRITE A SHIRT NUMBER INSTEAD!
5. Return your scorecard:
   1. Once your match is finished, and you’ve checked all of the above, return your scorecard to the box in the Referees Room.
   2. Do not take it with you to another match. If you have back-to-back matches, or are playing straight after refereeing, give your scorecard to one of the other referees from your match.
   3. If you accidentally take it home, take a photo of it straight away and email it to operations@ttra.org.au so the result can still be recorded.
6. Return your pencil/s:
   We shouldn’t really have to say this, but unfortunately a very large number of our referee pencils have “gone missing” over the last six months…
   1. If you take a pencil to your match, please be considerate of the other referees that need to use these pencils and make sure you drop them back into the box after your match!
   2. In October last year, we bought 200 new pencils, there are now less than 20 left!
   3. We would appreciate it if you can search you gear bags and return any pencils that you accidentally took home.

If you know in advance

In most normal weeks, our Appointments Committee (Colliers Shield) and Competition Coordinators (Mixed & Veterans) make the appointments on Tuesday afternoons, so they need to know you’re availability beforehand!

If you know in advance that you’ll be unavailable to referee, then you need to let us know BEFORE 5pm on Tuesday each week!

There’s two ways you can tell us you’re unavailable:

1. Write your name on the “Unavailable to Referee” sheet in the Referees Room; or
2. Send an email to operations@ttra.org.au.

Changes after 5pm Tuesday

There are a million different things that can go wrong between the appointments being made on Tuesday afternoon and the day of your actual match, so we understand that sometimes you can’t make the match/es you’ve been appointed to!

If you’ve been appointed but can’t make your match, then you (or your club) will be responsible for finding a replacement. We might be able to help you find a replacement or may even be fortunate enough to have a replacement already available, so make sure you let us know as soon as you can!

On the day of your match... if you realise that you won’t be able to make it then the expectations are still the same. Make sure you let us and your club (if you are a club-aligned referee) know ASAP.

Read up on the “Competition & Grade Requirements” below for more info!

Competition & Grade Requirements

Depending on the competition or grade you’ve been appointed to referee, there are some additional requirements:

All Colliers Shield Matches (club-aligned referees)

• You should also let your club’s Referee Coordinator know! Call them as soon as possible, and if they don’t answer then leave a voicemail and follow-up with an SMS.
• Your club’s Referee Coordinator will work with you to find a suitable replacement, and (depending on your club’s rules) may require you to find a replacement from within your own team if they don’t have someone else available.

Colliers Shield M1 / W1 / M2 Matches (all referees)

• Because these matches need more experienced referees, make sure you let the TTRA’s Director of Referees know immediately.
• Either email operations@ttra.org.au (before matchday), or call Kerrod on 0400 709 054 (if unanswered, send an SMS).

Mixed Competitions

• If you are the “Duty Referee” for your team (usually because you play in that team or have been organise by that team to referee for them), then you’ll need to get someone else from your team to replace you.
  • If your replacement is just filling in, then they don’t need to be an accredited referee. As long as they have some touch football experience, then we will help them do the rest!
• Once you have a replacement, call Denise on 0428 638 102 (if unanswered, send an SMS).

Referee Uniform

We have a very relaxed uniform policy for most matches, however there are still some basic rules which need to be followed.

• Correct Shirt: As a minimum, you must wear the correct referees shirt, which may be one of the three variations below:

“Touch Football Australia”	“NRL Touch Football”	“Townsville Touch Referees”

• Correct Shorts or Skirt (COLLIERS SHIELD matches on Fields 1 & 2): If you are refereeing a Colliers Shield match on Field 1 or 2, you also need to wear the correct shorts/skirt. Just like the shirts, there are some variations:

“Touch Football Australia”	“NRL Touch Football”	“Townsville Touch Referees”

Policy on club shorts:    There are currently no rules against wearing club shorts while refereeing, unless the match is a Colliers Shield match on Field 1 or 2, in which case you must wear the correct shorts (above). If you don’t already own a pair, they can be borrowed for free from the Referees Room.

Loan-Out Gear

Remember, we run a “loan-out” system for those referees who don’t want to buy their own. Shorts, shorts, and whistles can all be borrowed from the Referees Room.

Don’t forget to sign them out (make sure you record your name, phone number, and the number of the shirt, shorts, whistle), and remember to return them after you’ve finished!

If you accidentally take it home… wash them and return them next week.

Note:   All borrowed whistles are cleaned thoroughly after use, so if you accidentally take a whistle home then please return it to the “used whistles” box the next time you are in the Referees Room.

Buy Your Own Uniform

We have now received stock of the TTRA Referees Uniform, so very soon you’ll be able to purchase your own!

The “new” uniform has been designed to look very similar to the TFA/NRL Touch Football “white/green/grey” uniform, which means you can keep wearing the gear you already own.

Once available, you’ll be able to purchase your uniforms through our soon to be launched online store, using the following payment methods:

• Credit/debit card
• Deduction from match payments

Soon you’ll also be able to purchase other items such as whistles and wrist bands!

Uniform Pack (shirt + shorts)	Shirt Only	Shorts Only
$55.00	$35.00	$30.00

More information on how you can order your uniform will be sent out soon, so stay tuned!

We’re still keeping our loan-out system and we’ve already topped-up our loan-out gear with some of the new kit if you want to check it out!

Need more information? Was there something we missed?

We’re always happy to help answer your questions about refereeing, so if you need any more information then please email operations@ttra.org.au or speak to us in person!

See you at Queens Park soon!