Introducing your newest Player Referees 🏉

The Irish Tag Rugby Association is delighted to welcome Connor McComb, Henry Start and Seamus Owens to the refereeing team!

Connor, Henry and Seamus have joined the reffing team through ITRA's new Player Ref initiative, and they are also taking advantage of ITRA's long-standing initiative where referee earnings can be put towards Tag Rugby World Cup costs. With a World Cup in Australia in October of this year, this initiative is mutually beneficial for players and for ITRA. Player Refs are often some of the quickest to ascend through the pathway due to their advanced knowledge of the laws and understanding of the game, and players already at venues can chip away at their World Cup costs by reffing around their own games.

Not only are player-refs usually quite high standard, in high-demand venues and especially on busy summer nights, player refs can prove invaluable to keep everything running in the face of emergencies, illnesses or injuries. Ideally, there would be up to 4 player refs per venue to ensure every round can be covered no matter how the fixtures fall, and the Player Ref incentive is aimed at encouraging more player refs to put themselves forward.

For player refs who successfully complete the (paid) rookie ref training, ITRA will refund the individual cost of the first league the player plays and refs in. So, for example, say you are playing in a league currently and you put yourself forward; when you complete the training, you will receive the payment for completing the training and, as soon as you referee in the same league you are playing in, you will receive your league cost back on top of being paid per game you referee. (See full rates below for a breakdown of rates and increases)

As above, ITRA also has a long-standing incentive for International tag players where they can put their reffing payments towards their World Cup costs, and with a World Cup in Australia this year, international tag players are encouraged and very welcome to put themselves forward to ref.

Elite ref Darragh (DK) Kennedy, who is also taking part in ITRA's World Cup Costs initiative.

What Are Referee Ratings?

Previously, referee ratings were A, B and C. In the interest of clarity, we have renamed these to better align with the levels of tag available. The new referee ratings are:

Elite: A ref qualified to take on mixed, men's and women's Premiership, including National League and National Championship fixtures.

Social A:  A ref qualified to take on Social A or Division 1 games.

Social: A ref qualified to ref games in all Social leagues.

Rookie: A trainee ref.

Refs start out as rookies and are qualified Social referees once they complete the training program. Referees gain Social A or Elite qualification through ongoing assessments and feedback. Each new level achieved brings an increase in the rate paid per game.

This process is, as always, overseen by our Head of Referees, Rory O' Keeffe. Any further questions on the process can be directed to him.

What Are The Pay Rates?

ITRA Referees are paid per game, and can ref up to 4 games per night depending on the venue.

Payment rates are:

• Elite referees: €15 per game (+€1 for Mixed, Men's or Women's Prem games)

• Social A referees: €14.50 per game

• Social referees: €13.50 per game

The training for Rookie Refs is paid at a rate of €13.50 an hour for a total of 8 hours. Rookie refs receive this €108 upon completion of the training. Training involves one online session with the Head of Referees and three on-pitch sessions, where the rookie starts out shadowing an experienced referee and is given increasing control over the game.

You can find out even more details by checking out our our referee sign-up page.

I'm Not A Player - How Can I Start Reffing?

We train refs up from the start, so no prior experience is required. The most important skills are an outgoing personality and a love of sport. ITRA is currently taking applications and running trainings with rookies. The link to express interest in refereeing is available here.