Try whistling this: refereeing Pickerills on the ball

Referees Don and Brendon Pickerill notched a rare achievement at the North Shore celebration game – a father and son officiating in the same premier match.

Brendon, who has blown the whistle at both Super Rugby and test-match level, was the match referee. Dad, Don (66), was one of the assistant referees on the touchline.

Brendon grew up in Devonport, played through the junior grades at Shore and then returned after his Takapuna Grammar School years, before deciding his best rugby pathway was refereeing.

Don, meanwhile, is a long-time North Shore club man, who coached Brendon and younger son Tim’s teams and was the club’s junior convenor for a few years.

He refereed as a young man for a couple of years, but got back into it at 60, after Brendon began officiating and encouraged his dad to pick up the whistle again.

The pair were officials together once before – several years ago when Brendon reffed a first XV game between Rosmini and Orewa College and Don was on the touchline.

How did his Dad perform on the big day at North Shore? “He did a pretty good job – his main focus was keeping up with the play!” Brendon said.

“Someone in the crowd asked if he was celebrating his 150th (rather than the rugby club).”

Brendon said it was “great being back at the club” and being part of a special occasion. “It is great to see the club thriving.”

As is the nature of refereeing, Brendon was involved in a curly judgement only two minutes into the match – sin-binning Shore lock Adam Batt for a leg trip.

“That was me,” Brendon said when asked if he needed to confer with Don over the decision.

“I had a beer with Adam after the match and he said he took a step when he was trying to get his shoulder across – but it was pretty bad.”

On the positive side, “it kept [Batt] on his best behaviour for the rest of the match”.

Last week, Brendon was in Samoa refereeing a Moana Pacific match against the Queensland Reds. For the next 10 weeks, he is officiating in Super Rugby matches.

The referees for the Rugby World Cup starting in September are due to be announced in May, and Brendon hopes he may get a TMO or assistant-referee slot.

Don, who with wife Robyn moved to a lifestyle block north of Tauranga a couple of years ago and now officiates under Bay of Plenty colours, said the Pickerills came within a whisker of having three referees on the field. Son Tim, a pilot, referees to first XV level in Wellington. “The plan was to have Brendon in the middle and Tim and I running the lines, but he had a previous commitment of a wedding in Melbourne.”

Refereeing runs in the Pickerill family. Don’s father, Ernie, was a life member of the Whangarei Rugby Referees Association.

Don was delighted to be part of North Shore’s celebrations.

“The after-match functions at the club are second to none... It reflects the great community support the club gets.”