PHOTO: Football Far North Coast’s Newcastle Permanent Referee of the Month, Ron Honeybun
Northern NSW Football (NNSWF) is pleased to announce the Newcastle Permanent Community Referee of the Month for March 2017 across the zones.
“Match Officials have one of the hardest jobs in sport. Mark has shown that he takes the role of Match Official very seriously and his dedication, passion and commitment contributes significantly to the positive football experience enjoyed by the players and spectators of matches he officiates,” NNSWF Community Football Manager Peter Haynes commented.
Each winner will be presented a prize pack including a jacket, cap, water bottle and a referee card set to assist in fulfilling their valuable duties on and off the field.
From the pool of monthly winners, a “Newcastle Permanent Referee of the Year” for each Zone will be recognised at the Northern NSW Football Annual Awards Night.
Newcastle Permanent CEO Terry Millett echoes Haynes’ sentiments and applauds the volunteers who received the award.
“We’re proud to support the volunteers and officials who give their time to ensure the world game is accessible to our youth. Referees improve the player’s experience of the game,” Millett said.
The March Newcastle Permanent Community Referee of the Month Award recipients from across each of its seven Member Zones are as follows:
Ron Honeybun
Football Far North Coast
We are fortunate to have an experienced person like Ron involved as a match official. Despite living in QLD, Ron travels to this region every week to referee games. He is supportive of young match officials and always offers positive support. Ron is readily available each season and is not selective about which part of the zone he travels to or what level of competition he is asked to officiate. Ron is also willing to assist with tasks that help match officials, such as training and communication.
Zachary Butchard
Hunter Valley Football
Zachary was our youngest at just 13 yr old when he became a qualified referee with Hunter Valley Referees in 2016. The improvement shown by Zachary throughout the year was outstanding particularly at such a young age and is a testimony to his willingness not only to watch, listen and learn but to question things he does not understand.
The enthusiasm shown by Zachary both as a referee and as an assistant cannot be questioned as he continually works hard at improving his knowledge of and administering the laws of the game. For his first year, his willingness to listen and ability to take advice given to him onto the field to try and implement was impressive
Zachary officiated many games throughout the year both as a referee and as an AR and whilst he was having fun and enjoying refereeing he was continually showing improvement and confidence
I am also very impressed that despite his young age the first thing Zachary always does upon arrival at the ground is that he takes the initiative by shaking hands with all his fellow officials introducing himself to those who he does not know. He also does this before he or they leave the ground, I think this is a very mature thing for someone of his age to do particularly with the much older senior referees.
The efforts shown by Zachary were rewarded with both semis and grand final appointments as an AR in older age groups where he performed extremely well making many positive and important decisions. His knowledge of the Laws of the Game and how to interpret them was certainly at a much higher level than earlier in the year.
The willingness to learn and the improvements were shown by Zachary throughout the year both as a referee and as an AR did not go unnoticed and Zachary was rewarded by his peers with Hunter Valley Football Referees Association Rookie of the Year 2016.
Mark Makepiece
Northern Inland Football
Mark Makepiece is an outstanding referee. He spends numerous hours each week doing rosters ant training of referees in our area. His consistently showing, guiding and assisting young referees in the Tamworth district. He is a credit to the sport of football within in the role of a referee he encourages all players about good sportsmanship and is a fair consistent referee.
Tamworth football owe a lot to Mark for is service to Tamworth football
Craig White
Football Mid North Coast
Briefly outline reason for nomination:: Awesome guy helps everyone. Fair & Just Referee. Dedication and passion for the game and willing to help anyone out with anything to do with soccer. Dedication to the game. Not biased to any specific team. Encouraging & Supporting
Josie Jamadar
Newcastle Football
Josie is a great ref. I’ve had the pleasure of watching her ref many games and also had the pleasure of being refed by her. She is a great professional and does her best every time she walks out on the pitch to ref. I think Josie has been a good role model for other girls as she’s able to handle the not so great part of the job like abuse really well and follows correct procedures.
Alex Stillhard
North Coast Football
Alex is always keen to referee and assist with as many matches as possible. He communicates well and is always willing to work in with referees, coaches and players.
Justin Cooney
Macquarie Football
Justin helps out with refereeing games at our club (Southern Lakes United Football Club). He is also an assistant coach. Justin will drop everything to help with our club and he is a great referee. He is always there very early for every game day morning. He is always willing to help out well before his refereeing duties start as well.
