Aspiring referees gather for workshop at Girls’ High

There was no shortage of confidence or courage at Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High School (GHS) recently as 55 aspiring referees from around KwaZulu-Natal gathered for the Rookie Rugby Referee’s workshop. GHS principal Matthew Marwick described the workshop as extremely successful. “It went extremely well.

We had about 55 enthusiastic attendees,” he said. “The facilitators are all very experienced referees from the Midlands Referees’ Society. There were a lot of interesting questions given the huge amount of information that was shared.” The course, led by Kevin Wood, Grant Little, Joe Smit, Danie Joubert and Roxane Niemandt, covered everything from referee kit and field positioning to the more complex laws of the game.

For GHS, hosting the event was both strategic and symbolic. “GHS has been very deliberate in doubling the number of clubs and societies from about 22 to about 45,” Marwick said. “Our rugby referees’ society only started operating on February 11.

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We are a new club with lots of members and huge interest. I wanted to put GHS rugby referees on the map by hosting the inaugural workshop for 2026.” The numbers speak for themselves. In addition to the 55 attendees, there were a further 20 apologies from girls who had prior commitments.

Marwick added that he has been told by almost every pupil that they want to become referees, to be able to run around, adjudicate matches, blow their whistles and be in charge. “That is a wonderful testament to the kind of bold young women we have,” he said. Grade 10 pupil Raeesa Mohammed Ismail (15) described the workshop as “very informative and inspiring”.

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