The Rugby Club Foundation was proud to support referee development across NSW through a number of grants in 2021. Referee coaching is vital to develop and retain referees. What, how and when the referee communicates is a key part of their skillset, and referee coaches need to hear this communication to best help the referee to improve.

Ideally every referee coach in Australia should have their own set of comms gear and The Rugby Club Foundation grants have assisted Referee Associations toward achieving this goal - enabling NSW Rugby Union to purchase 20 referee coach communication kits for use by NSW Rugby Union Referees Association (RRA) coaches, while New England RRA purchased one coaching kit, and Sydney South RRA purchased two more kits.

Sydney West RRA were awarded a grant to improve their own use of both video and communication technology so that more referees could be recorded for more detailed coaching. It is very helpful for referees to see and hear themselves in action when trying to improve, as well as providing more clips at their level for referee education.

Communication between the team of 3 (referee and assistant referee) is also important to improve decision making on faster and more skilful games (e.g. 1st grade), as well as to prepare referees for working with these tools at higher levels (e.g. NSW Country Championships, Shute Shield and national/international appointments). The Rugby Club Foundation grants enabled NSWRU to purchase two more team of 3 kits for Sydney competitions and for Western Plains RRA to purchase one kit.

The Foundation looks forward to more opportunities to assist with referee development in the future, supporting these vital volunteers who provide a great experience for players.