Meet your newest Elite Referees!

ITRA would like to congratulate Liam Ó Discín and Darragh Kennedy on becoming our latest Elite Referees! 👏🏻

Liam Ó Discín (left)

Liam is a stalwart of the game, consistently among the refs with the highest number of games reffed each month. 👏🏻 A true team player, always available to help out or take on a new challenge in a pinch; for example, if you have been in High School in the last few weeks, Liam has been your covering VM and Ref.

Liam has been reffing about three years, racking up to three nights a week in summer and two in winter, so has around 250 games under his belt. Liam was originally a union ref looking to stay fit in the off-season and got involved in tag reffing after seeing an ITRA ad looking for referees on Instagram. (The system works! 😂 🙌🏻)

If you've played pretty much any Southside venue over the last couple of months, particularly Irishtown, Alex College or High School, you will know Liam. We are delighted to award him his Elite rating. 🥳 🎖️

Darragh Kennedy (right)

Darragh, perhaps better known as DK, is a well-known face around the tag scene, having played and coached across club, National and International level for years. He is a current tag International and has been selected to play for the Ireland Men's 40s in the Tag World Cup in Australia later this year.

Darragh recently returned to refereeing as a Player Ref, reffing around his own Division 1 games in Irishtown, before branching out and taking on his first Prem game in Pembroke recently. We are delighted to have Darragh back in the mix, and to award him his Elite rating. 🥳 🎖️

I'm A Player! Can I Ref?

Player Refs are often some of the quickest to ascend through the pathway due to their advanced knowledge and understanding of the game, so we love to see players putting themselves forward to ref!

ITRA will be soon announcing a brand new, trial incentive to encourage more player refs of all levels to put themselves forward - stay tuned!

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.

What is an Elite Referee?

Elite Referees are our highest standard of referee, trusted with the highest standard games we have to offer, from social all the way up to Prem. Elite Refs will also get opportunities to ref National fixtures and international trainings on the Ref pathway towards international refereeing.

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.

There are also international referees, who are qualified to take on an international tag match. Once a ref has their Elite qualification, they can aim for international refereeing under the guidance of the Head of Referees, Rory O' Keeffe.

I'm Already A Ref - How Can I Become An Elite Ref?

The referee pathway involves multiple assessments where referees are provided feedback and, where successful, move up the levels listed above. For the referees, a higher qualification means higher standard games and an increase in pay.

Requests for an assessment can be made to the Ref Co-ordinator, Clare Cullen Mullin. You can get her on clare.cm@tagrugby.ie or message her on 087 490 1188.

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.

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.

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 (€16 for Mixed, Men's & 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.