Reffing 101: Scheduling, Pay, Ratings and more!

This blog post is your one-stop shop for understanding how referreeing with ITRA works!

When is it on?

Tag rugby is played in the evenings during the week, so refs will need evening availability.

Each game of tag is 40 minutes long. For referees, this is known as a "round". Each venue will have between two and four "rounds" each night. One referee will ref all "rounds" on the pitch they are assigned by the VM (Venue Manager).

ITRA runs leagues in multiple venues, Monday-Thursday, twelve months a year, across Dublin, Kildare, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford.

In our peak summer period in Dublin alone, we have 18-21 venues running leagues Monday to Thursday evenings across North and South Dublin.

Scheduling

Scheduling works differently in the different regions. For Dublin and Galway, the ITRA ref coordinator schedules refs by the calendar month. Referees indicate what nights and venues best suit them, and the ITRA ref coordinator puts them on the schedule for the agreed dates. This schedule is then provided to the Venue Managers (VMs). The VM will message scheduled refs the day before to reconfirm all important details like requested arrival time, number of rounds, etc.

If a ref needs to pull out of a scheduled appointment, they need to give 24+ hours' notice.

For Limerick, Cork, Kildare and Waterford, referee scheduling is managed by the regional organiser. Once a rookie referee based in one of these areas has completed the online portion of thier training, they will be put in touch with this regional organiser to take the next steps.

Referees are part-time contractors, paid monthly on the last working day of each month. They can choose to be paid via bank transfer or on Revolut.

Training

Rookie ref training involves one online session with the Head of Refs, Rory O' Keeffe, to learn the basics on how to ref including how to lay out your pitch cones, how to communicate with players, hand signals and more. There will be 1-2 of these offered a month and rookies will need to make themselves available to attend one before they can start their on-pitch training. Once this online session is complete, rookies will be scheduled to ref alongside an experienced referee for two rounds. There will be three of these sessions before a rookie is 'graduated' and qualifed as a Social Referee. Where and when the rookie is scheduled for these will depend on the rookie's availability.

How much does it pay?

Rookie Ref training is paid at a rate of €13.50 an hour for a total of 8 hours, coming to €108. Rookie refs receive this €108 upon completion of the training.

Once training is completed, ITRA Referees are paid per game, and can ref up to 4 games per night depending on the venue. Payment rate is based on Referee Rating.

Payment rates are:

• Elite referees: €15 per game (+€1 for Premiership games)

• Social A referees: €14.50 per game

• Social referees: €13.50 per game

We also offer referral bonuses, pay experienced referees for training rookies and more.

What Are The 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:

Rookie: A referee in training Social: A referee that has completed their rookie training and been signed off to referee all Social standard games. Social A:  A referee that has qualified to take on Social A or Division 1 games by passing at least one assessment. Elite: A referee that has qualified to take on mixed, men's and women's Premiership, including National League and National Championship fixtures, by passing at least two assessments. 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.

Types of Ref

Different refs have different availability levels. ITRA has the following types of referee appointment available:

Venue/Regular Referee: Referees who can commit to a venue for an agreed duration (usually by the calendar month). 

Cover Referees: Referees who can provide cover on short notice if a scheduled ref needs to withdraw. This will be requested on a needs basis eg. as soon as/only when a space becomes available.

Reserve Referees: Referees who will be paid a nominal fee to stay available on an agreed day or date. If needed, they will provide cover for any venue on the night in question. If not needed, they will be released by 12pm on the day and recieve the fee for keeping the evening free. Player Referees: Players who are qualified referees, who are already in a venue and willing to ref other rounds around their own game(s). 

Special Events

ITRA runs special events throughout the year that usually happen on weekends. These events are paid at a daily rate rather than a per-game rate. Scheduling for these events is also based on the ref indicating availability.

Player Ref Initiative

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. In order to encourage more player-refs to put themselves forward, we announced a new player-ref initiative in 2026.

For player refs who successfully complete the (paid) rookie ref training, ITRA will refund the first league the player refs in, on top of their payment for completing the training.

You can read more detail on this here.

World Cup Payments Initiative

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 to put themselves forward to ref.

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.