NZ National League Women

coochiee wrote:
https://twitter.com/CFC_BD_AFC/status/2041645237001711713

 
Something for all you NRFL men’s/women’s followers (aka @thenichecache)

Katie Duncan has resigned from Western Springs amidst a horrid start of the season

Scott Hales will take over for the weekend, Ben Bate is being eyed up for the rest of the season given his current WS role
— BD 👁️👄👁️ (@CFC_BD_AFC) April 7, 2026 

reubee wrote:
Interesting comparison of journalistic reporting from a controversial ending to the NFRL Womens Premiership Auckland Utd v Ellerslie game this week.  2-2 entering 92nd minute and referee kills the underdog Ellerslie with what I would call two very unnecessary handball calls that lead to a penalty.

JR who is at the game but I suspect does not watch video afterwards to confirm points or gaps in his notes, rips into the officiating standards for half of his report https://www.ultimatenzsoccer.com/Scoreboard/030526.htm 

whilst Niche Cache who isn't at the game but I suspect notes the times and watches the YouTube video to generate a description does not go back far enough to provide context that it was two handballs in close succession that led to the controversy https://theniche-cache.com/football/2026/5/5/aotearoa-domestic-football-roundup-may-5#:~:text=WOMEN%E2%80%99S%20NRFL%20PREMIERSHIP 

YouTube video available from Niche Cache article, start at 92:00

Who would be a ref eh. I get where JR is coming from about wanting the top referees for the top level of womens football, but he is wrong in the first handball. The Ellerslie player wasn't using their bracing arm that caused the handball he thinks he saw

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I can't really get a good screenshot of it but watching the video, you can see it was the players left arm bracing the ground and when they didn't know where the ball was, they turned and the right arm hit the ball. Call came from the AR too that was on the correct side to see the call.

As for the second, way to hard to tell from video what the referee saw but again they where in the correct position to see and make a call.

zonknz wrote:
Where would you like to see future NL Referees developed, exactly? That's the point of regional footballing competitions; they are a lower standard of competition. Refs get matched to games as best as an appointment panel/officer can knowing that people also get sick/injured and replacements need to be drafted in. 

JRs "point" about the NLs next year is even more confusing. Of course NL panel refs will officiate those games.

regchopah wrote:

 zonknz wrote:
Where would you like to see future NL Referees developed, exactly? That's the point of regional footballing competitions; they are a lower standard of competition. Refs get matched to games as best as an appointment panel/officer can knowing that people also get sick/injured and replacements need to be drafted in. 

JRs "point" about the NLs next year is even more confusing. Of course NL panel refs will officiate those games.

So you think it's acceptable that in the NRFL the mens NL get the best referees, the mens championship the next best and then the Mens Nth and Sth conference the third best and then somewhere around there the womens premier league - the top womens competition in the region?

~reubee wrote:
I am curious what the officials do to prepare.  The players are training at least twice a week, the coaches are doing more watching and clipping video.  Every game is recorded, are the officials as a group watching back and learning and critiquing and discussing key moments so that they improve.  Do coaches note the minutes in a game they would like the refereeing to review and explain.  Or is it still old school, an ex-ref whose knees are gong in a long jacket scribbling notes onto A4?

zonknz wrote:

regchopah wrote:

 zonknz wrote:
Where would you like to see future NL Referees developed, exactly? That's the point of regional footballing competitions; they are a lower standard of competition. Refs get matched to games as best as an appointment panel/officer can knowing that people also get sick/injured and replacements need to be drafted in. 

JRs "point" about the NLs next year is even more confusing. Of course NL panel refs will officiate those games.

So you think it's acceptable that in the NRFL the mens NL get the best referees, the mens championship the next best and then the Mens Nth and Sth conference the third best and then somewhere around there the womens premier league - the top womens competition in the region?

Any ref who is seriously in the frame for NL will go where they are appointed. Refs can express preferences in regional comps, and constraints to their availability when they are are away. They're volunteers. I reckon that's fine, imho. 
Appointments  have a duty to appoint the right people to the right game (for player safety) - you need your best refs on the most difficult or important games. That's why you might see a NL or even Fifa ref appearing in important regional fixtures rather than in games featuring the 'top' sides  - think a 1 v 2 game in a second tier league that might be material for promotion, or a "6 pointer" game between the bottom two in the first tier.

I would rather personally ref a shithouse relegation mens cap fixture on my own than a WCL game - that's my preference. Each to their own.

chopah wrote:
I'm not blaming the referees here - I'm blaming the appointments person or process.  Even if referees are like na I don't want to do Women's NRFL Premiership then tell them they won't be able to do Women's NL - it's not good enough (to JR's main point) that players from this league are good enough to play in FIFA comps and for NZ but inappropriate referees are assigned - and that includes both from a skill level and a fitness level.

zonknz wrote:

 chopah wrote:
I'm not blaming the referees here - I'm blaming the appointments person or process.  Even if referees are like na I don't want to do Women's NRFL Premiership then tell them they won't be able to do Women's NL - it's not good enough (to JR's main point) that players from this league are good enough to play in FIFA comps and for NZ but inappropriate referees are assigned - and that includes both from a skill level and a fitness level.

The regional leagues are amateur competitions*. What if the refs doing time in these more difficult competitions left these match officials better equiped for a demands of the NL season? 

Or are you trying to construct a ludicrious argument that suggests that Trevis and Kawana-Waugh shouldn't be allowed to ref in the Mens NL later this season, because this year they are spent their time inthe A-League / OFC Pro League / World cup rather than in the Central/NRFL Mens?

Was Jones disrespecting the Women's leagues by being (historically) appointed to the A-League mens as a lino? 

(My argument would be no. )

*Yes, so are the NLs.

zonknz wrote:
Pick up a whistle or a flag and displace them in the pecking order for appointments then, i reckon. Look, refs know we're the pantomime villain of the game. 

That said, the entitlement that seeps out of your posts making demands of how amateur volunteers must spend their weekends to suit your view of the world, rather than appointing them to challenging fixtures that might improve their skills as a MO is equally hilarious and deeply depressing.

chopah wrote: I'm not trying to demand anything of individual referees I just think the system needs to be changed to incentivise people to want to referee womens games (if as you say that is one of the issues) with a carrot of women's NL appointments if they do the top regional women's leagues regularly and pass a level set by assesors to prove they are suitable.

zonknz wrote:

 chopah wrote: I'm not trying to demand anything of individual referees I just think the system needs to be changed to incentivise people to want to referee womens games (if as you say that is one of the issues) with a carrot of women's NL appointments if they do the top regional women's leagues regularly and pass a level set by assesors to prove they are suitable.

So now you don't want the best possible refs available for the Women's NL?

(you've actually got pretty close to how the nomination process for NL MOs works).

chopah wrote:

Let's change this to a slight variation of the topic - as a referee how would you rate the average challenge points of leagues for referees - It feels like you are suggesting the challenge point of women's NRFL Premier sits somewhere between Mens championship and nth/sth conference - which if true i find very interesting.Mens championship and nth/sth conference - which if true i find very interesting.

zonknz wrote:
Look, refs know we're the pantomime villain of the game.