2024: Sports Clubs Need The Bond Website to Help Find Referees

Posting umpire and referee vacancies on the Bond website would help Bond sporting codes find the officials they need, say players.

The limited information on the Bond website prevents sports clubs from having the officials they need to play their sport.

Co-President of the Bond Netball Club Airlie Rouvray said that their referees are predominately students found through the netball community.

“We usually find our referees through other members of the Netball Executive committee, other netballers, or friends that know how to umpire,” she said.

“The umpires are usually students. However, for official competitions, we acquire more professional umpires.”

Airlie said that having refereeing information on the Bond website would help the Netball Club continue to hold competitions.

“We have not had any official competitions yet. However, it would be difficult to find people unless they were friends or fellow university students,” she said.

“I think [having referee applications on the Bond website] would be an amazing idea. We could draw people from a larger crowd, and who are interested in being paid to umpire,” she said.

Student and referee Zara Clark said that refereeing university-level competitions looks good to employers and demonstrates that referees have the skills to qualify for higher-level badges.

“It looks good on your umpiring resume,” she said.

“Especially if you’re going for an A badge, even a B badge, they like you to have a lot of experience and hours.”

The Bond community prides itself on their sporting programs and achievements, with “Olympic, world and national champion swimmers and coaches, Australia’s number one club for AFLW draftees,” and over 15 sports clubs to join at the beginning of each year (Bond University Sports Brochure, 2023).

However, without referees and umpires, many sports that Bond holds dear would be non-existent.

Being able to access this information on the Bond website will help referees continue their job of choice and enhance their work experience.

References:

Bond University Sport Brochure (2023).