Ralph Clink (pictured left) may be a relatively new referee on the local scene, but his enthusiasm has left him with the desire to achieve some lofty goals in the future.

What Made You Decide to give refereeing a go?

This time last year one of my friends was refereeing futsal and he told me to do the futsal referee course. I did the course and spent a few weeks learning the basics and found that I actually enjoyed it. Then I started meeting some of the other referees and felt really welcomed and it all kind of kicked off from there. A few months ago, I made the decision to get into football refereeing as well just to try it out really and just like futsal I found that I really enjoyed it and I made an easy decision to stick with it.

What Advice would offer to people your age thinking of about giving refereeing a go?

Grab some mates and do the Level 1 Course. You can do one where the bulk of the content is taught online so you only have to show up to one 3-hour session. You really have nothing to lose by doing a course and then refereeing some games. If you don't like it then fine but you owe it to yourself to give it a go because it's a lot more fun than some might think. Ultimately even if you decide against pursuing refereeing, you are going to become a better player if you have a better understanding of the laws of the game and it means that you will not be questioning decisions as much. Overall you will understand why referees are making the decisions in your games, making it less frustrating for you and meaning you'll get more enjoyment out of playing. 

What Makes refereeing so enjoyable for you?

A lot of why I enjoy refereeing is down to the challenge it presented and still presents to me. Refereeing looks easy from the stands and on the pitch as a player, but once you step into the ref's boots and give it a go you feel overwhelmed and overcoming this initial challenge really hooked me onto refereeing. I've met some great people through refereeing because the refereeing community within Mainland is fantastic and welcoming. I really enjoy providing an avenue for people to enjoy football, it feels great when you can walk onto a pitch and teams look happy to see you because they know you will do everything you can to give them an enjoyable game.

As a player, did you see refereeing in a different way than you used to?

Oh yes, that was one of the big things. I used to be that mouthy goalkeeper who tried to coach the referee through every decision he made and I was never particularly friendly with referees in general. But since I've seriously taken up refereeing I've gained a lot of empathy and respect for the referees who referee my games and am a lot better at keeping my mouth shut. And like I said, when I was talking about players giving refereeing a go I understand the games I play a whole lot more and that has really helped me to enjoy my football this year. 

How has the transition from Futsal refereeing to Football refereeing been?

It's not been easy, the two things I really struggled with at first were my positioning and fitness, I just very blatantly wasn't fit enough to be refereeing football at any grades higher than U14. But I did a lot of work and ended up passing the fitness tests we had to do for National Age Group Tournament and didn't struggle with my fitness at the Christchurch International Cup either, so I think I'm on top of my fitness for the level I'm refereeing at. In terms of my positioning, in the first game Wayne Stapley commented on how I was positioning myself like a futsal referee, behind play which is a very, very bad thing in football as I found it in my first few matches. One of the games I was refereeing was being filmed and when I watched the footage back I had missed a very blatant foul that I should have cautioned the tackler for, but in the game, I didn't see it because I was positioned behind players and wasn't seeing challenges from a side on perspective, but with a bit of coaching I've improved a fair bit in terms of my foul recognition because of it, so I think I'm getting used to the differences between the two sports. 

What are your goals for the future?

This season I'm aiming to get onto MPL as an Assistant, and by 2020 I'm aiming to be in the MPL as a referee. Long term goal I guess would have to become a FIFA Referee, but that's a wee way away for now. In general, I'm aiming to get appointed to referee at as many tournaments as possible, national age group at the end of the year is probably the next major tournament I'm aiming to referee at and next year I'm aiming to referee in the Premier School Competition, so I'll see how it goes from here and keep working towards getting to a level where I can referee in higher divisions. 

To #getin to refereeing, contact Wayne Stapley for more information, or check out the courses page for the next referee course dates.