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Referees: Records, Reflections, Milestones

The criteria to receive a blazer for refereeing milestones from the Wellington Referees Association has been changed from 100 premier games to 50 premier games. Ben Van Berkel, who lobbied for the change, was the first to receive his blazer under the 50-game criteria after Petone played Johnsonville on April 27. Van Berkel had officiated 241 matches across all grades when he reached the half-century premier game milestone.

Others to have reached 50 games will be acknowledged retrospectively. David Walsh started recording accurate, official, statistics in 1995. Ethan Jefferson became Wellington’s latest premier referee on Saturday. The 21-year-old made his debut in the Paremata-Plimmerton v Wellington match.

Most Capped Referees

David Walsh (184)
Richard Gordon (128)
Daniel Mangan (117)
Brett Murray (115)
Hamish Mexted (107) – Still Active in Premier rugby
Wayne Dickson (106)
Jamie Fairmaid (102) – Still Active in Premier rugby
Gordon Noble-Campbell (102)

Note: Refereeing in the Wellington Region began in 1894, and dozens of referees will have refereed 50 or 100 Club games.  It is entirely likely that many of them have refereed immeasurably more games than any of those named on this list. (source – David Walsh).

Active Referees with 50+ caps

Steve Newson, 88
Jack Sargentina, 63 (4 first-class games, three Jubilee Cup Finals)
Ben Van Berkel, 55

Retired or Relocated Referees With 50+ Games

Nick Hogan (95) *
Mike Fraser (85) *
Ian Dallas (78) – Chairman of Wellington Referees Association
Garratt Williamson (77) *
Phil Smith (67)
Colin Te Pou (62)
Michael Best (58)
Mike Pinfold (51)
Chris Pollock (50) *
Lyndon Bray (50) *

*Denotes first class referee. First-class appearances below.

Mike Fraser, 208 (2007-2022) – Eight Test Matches
Chris Pollock, 204 (2000-2016) – 22 Test Matches
Lyndon Bray, 144 (1991-2008) – Nine Test Matches
Garrett Williamson, 117 (2003-2014) – Two Test Matches
Nick Hogan, 66 (Still Active, Hogan is a regular on the SVNS Sevens circuit)

Jamie Fairmaid Cracks A Ton

Jamie Fairmaid became the eighth person to referee 100 Premier games on King’s Birthday Weekend.

He was recently on the Huddy Hui – and that full conversation is pasted below via Huddy Sports YouTube

Jamie refereed his 100th Premier match at Ngati Toa Domain in round nine of the Swindale Shield at the same venue as his debut match in 2015 between Paremata-Plimmerton and Petone B in the Hardham Cup.

On this occasion three weeks ago, home side Paremata-Plimmerton were the defending Swindale Shield champions, up against last year’s beaten home Jubilee Cup semi-finalists Johnsonville. In a thriller, the home team won 29-28 courtesy of a death-knock try and sideline conversion.

Jamie Fairmaid refereeing the Johnsonville – Poneke match this past weekend.

Paremata-Plimmerton was also Jamie’s first club as a junior player and where refereeing all started for him.

“I played junior rugby at Pare-Plim and when I was at primary/intermediate school, the kids liked to play rugby at lunch and the teachers never made us play tackle unless the game was refereed. Because my dad was a referee, I was the one who got roped into it.”

His first official game as a referee was also down at the Domain in 2005, aged 13.

“That was a rough introduction. I didn’t do very well. I wasn’t very good. But I stuck at it and wanted to improve.”

The next stop was Wellington College, where he continued his refereeing and playing career as a first-five. Up against such players as Lima Sopoaga, it was the whistle that won out and he continued when he left school.

Jamie said the challenges of being a referee are to always keep learning and evaluating.

“I always want to better myself every week and become the best referee I can be. To do that is about staying on top of my game and making sure I prepare well every week.

“There’s learnings from every game and whether it is good or bad you try and take them on board and improve the following week.”

Any early lesson he was taught the hard way was the day he gave out four yellow cards – ironically in another Paremata-Plimmerton versus Johnsonville game, in a match that got away from.

“This taught me that no matter what stays on the field, you are the one that still needs to stay level-headed, you are the one that needs to stay in control. One thing we say as referees is ‘control your controllables’ and that day I didn’t.”

Building relationships with captains and key players and being honest and open with them is a key attribute.

So far, Jamie rates a couple of Jubilee Cup semi-finals and a McBain Shield match between Petone and Hutt Old Boys Marist as his highlights.

“McBain was at a packed Petone Rec, the pace of the game was at another level, and two clubs no matter how they are performing in other weeks will give everything for that game. That is a round-robin game that we referees want to be part of at least once.”

In conversation with Jamie Fairmaid:

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