DIRECTOR OF REFEREES’ REPORT

Mr. Richard Daizli

Season 2011 started with trials in March and I would like to thank all referees who officiated in those matches. Special thanks to George Elias for looking after these appointments as I was new in the role.

The first round of appointments went well with no changes but that was not to last long. Most weekends there were late changes, some as late as the morning of the games. Many times the excuses were poor and those who constantly pull out are only affecting their chances of progressing. Late changes lead to frantic phone calls and spending Friday nights ensuring all games were covered. There were a number of wet weekends which led to the Junior League making changes to grounds on the morning of the games. This made it difficult to reappoint referees as some games were cancelled and others were put at odd times. In saying that, all games went as scheduled and all referees were accommodating and made my job a lot easier. There were some referees who went beyond the call of duty to help out and I would like to especially thank them.

The only games we had difficulty in covering at times were the Under 14s touch lines on Saturday. There was always one touch judge in attendance but having to move referees around with the restrictions most have on Saturdays made it difficult to fully cover these games. This may need to be reviewed in 2012 to see if a better system can be put in place.

We had a large number of new referees start in 2011 and hopefully they enjoyed the experience, and will be with us in 2012. A larger pool of referees leads to more competition and better performances, so hopefully we will see some of them progress through the grades.

The rotation policy adopted years ago was continued in an attempt to further develop our referees. This was forced on us early in the year as one week we would have five senior games of Under 19s and A grade and the following week this would increase to 11 senior games. We made the decision to promote some referees to have more officials experienced in doing the higher grades. Teams would also have the benefit of being refereed by different officials. Most referees at all levels were given the opportunity to referee at a grade higher than they would do most weekends to gain further experience. It was pleasing that most handled the step up and will be better for the experience. Some were able to excel and remain at the

higher grade and were able to further improve the more games they did. This created healthy competition in the higher grades.

The Inter City Competition was expanded to include all grades from Under 15s to A Grade. This made it difficult to appoint referees on a weekly basis as well as in the finals. On a weekly situation, the number of games we would get to officiate fluctuated. This meant a referee could do an Under 19s one week and then do an Under 16s the following week due to the lack of games. In the finals, the number of games Canterbury received changed every week. We were able to get five Sunday grand finals out of the 11 Sunday grand finals contested. This included the A grade which was a plus for our district.

Unfortunately we had no referees in the Junior Representative squad this year but we have a few who are very close to selection. Provided they keep learning and do the extra work, their opportunity may come in 2012..

A big thank you to all the advisory board members who spent many weekends out watching referees in an effort to make them better officials. Hopefully all referees benefited from their advice and words of wisdom. All referees were watched this year but an area of improvement for next year is to have all referees watched an equal number of times and at different stages of the year..

Special thanks to Kim Archer and Mathew Damaso for their help throughout the season. Kim’s experience as a board member made my life a lot easier with plenty of advice on how to best handle the role. Mat helped implement some technical changes and ensured all referees were able to see their appointments via email. As a group, we worked well together and complemented each other and hopefully have made a positive contribution to the development of all referees. Plenty of hours were spent evaluating reports and completing appointments and we were generally happy with the standard of refereeing based on reports from board members and feedback from the clubs.

Congratulations to those officials who were selected for the exchange program. Phelix El Kek and Barry Belford made the trip to the Sunshine Coast and John Gerges and Gavin Beecroft made the long journey to Perth. Feedback from those associations was that they refereed quite well and would be welcome back any time. Well done to all.

Congratulations to all referees who officiated in grand finals. Hopefully you achieved the goals you set yourselves at the start of the year. Congratulations to John Maarbani for winning the Clubb-Johnson Trophy for being the number one referee in the district and officiating in the A grade grand final. It has been a long time coming for John but was just reward as he put in the hard work at training and on the field. Congratulations to Phelix El Kek for being awarded the John FarrellyReg Dick Trophy for the most improved this year. Phelix also dedicated a lot of

time at training, taking in advice and was able to progress to the under 19s where he performed quite well.

Thank you to the executive board for their support throughout the year and made my first year as a director of referees smoother than I anticipated. I would also like to thank Paul Archer for his many words of advice and encouragement which made us feel like we were making a difference.

Also special thanks to Kevin Shanahan and the district club for their support throughout the year. It was the first time working with Kevin and communication was constant in ensuring the weekends went to plan.

I would also like to thank my family for their support and understanding especially with the many hours spent on Friday nights trying to rearrange officials.

Enjoy the time off and set your goals for 2012 and do the extra work to achieve them.

Richard Daizli

Mr. Brad Zarb

In 2011 we changed the association’s financial year end date back a month to October 31. This has greatly eliminated inflated figures on the profit/loss statement due to values crossing over into different years to which they relate to, and it also allows for many more cheques for referees fees to clear before end of year making the auditing process a lot simpler.

The overall result for the 13 months was an increase in equity of $5,127.68. This figure alone is not a true indication of how the associated faired for the period as it was significantly impacted by 3 values of note:-

1. The association obtained 20 new communication sets. The value was $10,991 and this was paid for by the Leagues club and Football club. The value can be seen in the grants section. 2. A carryover debit of $3,321 for Life Member’s night 2010. 3. The cocktail party was held this year at a cost of $2,841.

Allowing for these transactions which will not be seen next year, and given that we have a similar year financially, we should see a small profit next year and there is no reason why we cannot maintain that yearly from this point.

The 2011 figures show no term deposit values carried over from 2010. It should be noted that these values are currently being held and are reflected in the CBA main account. Values will be moved into new term deposits with Arab Bank once we complete the transition over to that bank. This will occur early in 2012, once all outstanding cheques have been presented on the CBA account.

For the members’ information current values of term deposits are as follows:-

• General T.D. - $11,031.26 • Centenary Fund T.D. - $11,633.29

We were again fortunate to have the Leo Randle trust provide the association with funds for gear, training, coaching & development, as well as the popular exchange program. The fund provided the association with the total amount of $6,537. It is important that all members appreciate the fact that these funds left to the association allow us to offer members many benefits, such as interstate trips where

they gain such valuable experience, something which we would otherwise not be able to offer on a yearly basis.

A special mention must go to our sponsors, Canterbury Bankstown League Club Ltd., Ronnies Demolition & Excavation, Control Painting and Decorating and National Trotguide who provided support once again. The support we receive from all sponsors is greatly appreciated by the association. The NSWRL Referees’ Association again sent grants to the association throughout the year to assist with the development of referees, and these were also gratefully received.

I would like to conclude by thanking the committee for the help and support I have received in my role as Treasurer over the last 4 years, and to the members as a whole for embracing the changes that we have made over the last few years to ensure the association can support itself financially for many years to come.

Brad Zarb

HON. TREASURER

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