Referees, Umpires and Other Sports Officials

As a referee or umpire, you are the authority on the field or court. Your job is to know the rules of your sport better than anyone and apply them fairly to every player, every time. You make decisions in seconds while athletes and crowds watch you, which means you need to stay calm and confident even when people are upset with you.

The work is physical and can be stressful. You might officiate on cold winter evenings, travel to matches at weekends, and spend hours training to get your fitness and knowledge to competition standard. You also need to be good at spotting what is happening in the game - a foul that happened three metres away, a handball in a crowd, a rule break that was quick and subtle. Strong communication matters too - you use hand signals, a whistle, and sometimes talking to keep the game moving fairly.