Refereeing Commission Chair shares 2024 Highlights

Carol Leverton, Chair of the National Refereeing Commission shares her thoughts on 2024 in an open letter, highlighting many of the successes from the year from at home and abroad.

Having finished a fantastic British Championships these last two weekends which draws a line under refereeing in 2024, I’d like to share a few thoughts on the year past.

Our Commission

This year saw James McBeath step down from the NRC and his position as Chair. As I succeed him, I’d like to express gratitude to James for his eight-years of service to the NRC with one year of which, being the Chair.

In taking over as Chair, I’m delighted to be picking up at a time where we have a strong set of British referees – over 300 of you supporting our events each and every weekend – a motivated team of area reps, a talented group of young referees and where we have once again found our feet and are succeeding on the international stage.

I’m pleased to welcome Lisa Rivers, as a new member of the NRC, alongside Keith Merrick, Archi Shrimpton, Martin Rivers, Stefan Newbury and Dan Harris as continuing members. I look forward to working with this excellent team going forward. Lisa will be responsible for Refereeing queries and complaints while Dan Harris will take up the role of NRC Secretary along with his existing roles.

I’d like to walk through some of the highlights of the year.

International Highlights

We were pleased to put forward Natasha Maslen for IJF Continental examination in Graz, Austria. We’re delighted Natasha was successful under the watchful gaze of the EJU and IJF and welcome her to our blue badge ranks.

Lisa Rivers completed another excellent year on the IJF World Tour – the first British referee to reach this level since 2012. She’s attended events such as the Grand Prix in Upper Austria, VI Grand Prix Heidelberg, Grand Slam Abu Dhabi & European U23 Championships, with Cadet World Championships in Peru being a highlight. Lisa is demonstrating that GB continues to produce world class referees and she is looking forward to next year, the new rules and continuing to hone her skills.

Among our European performances, we’ve fielded British IJF referees at 28 European Judo Union (EJU) events, which is a strong showing, alongside a further 16 appearances at EJU Cups by our national referees seeking to progress. This has included well-deserved Championship selections for:

– Lisa Rivers – World Cadet Championships & European U23 Championships
– Stefan Newbury – European Junior Championships
– Graeme McLachlan – European Cadet Championships
– Archi Shrimpton – European Veterans Championships

After almost 40 years of refereeing, we also marked Keith Merrick’s retirement from 21 years of international duties with a presentation of a letter of thanks by EJU Commission members at this year’s GBR Junior European Cup. While his distinguished international career draws to a close, Keith will continue refereeing on home soil.

Finally, I’d congratulate Keith & Dan on successfully completing the IJF Academy – Undergraduate Certificate in Judo Instruction alongside Paul Grady, Steven Sims and Graham Holmes. This is a big undertaking, combining 18 weeks of theoretical work, followed by a tough six days of practical work and examination. I’m pleased that a number of you have already joined the next intake or have expressed interest in doing so in 2025, it’s a great way to build a solid technical base.

British Highlights

2024 was also our second year running a GBR Junior European Cup – this is a fantastic opportunity for our athletes but also for our referees to have the opportunity to work at a challenging event on home soil. The BJA fielded seven referees, including IJF referees, Archie Shrimpton, James McBeath & Mark Waterhouse and including four national referees – Dan Harris, Paul Grady, Stephen Sims & Graham Holmes. Feedback from the EJU Commission on the refereeing team was very positive, which reflects well on all those selected. We’ll be running the event again next year, so look forward to delivering another excellent team of referees.

I was pleased we were able to run another successful National Seminar this year, as well as building in some more mat-based activity to mix up the day. It was attended by 97 of you, and a number of coaches. I’m grateful to those attending and, of course, to those delivering the content. This year has also seen the running of a number of courses for new and existing referees including:

8 x Club
8 x Area
6 x Nat C
1 x Nat B
1 x Nat A

I’m really pleased to be able to share a number of promotions from examinations to National B and National A. Congratulations on your well-deserved promotions:

National A: Ben George, Jason Bull, Dave Dunsford
National B: Samir Sydykov, Cian Marris, George Holland & Emma Herd.

I was also pleased to be able to make a presentation for Senior National this year at the British Championships. We reserve this award for those demonstrating a significant commitment to refereeing across their own personal performance, leadership and the development of others – real pillars of our refereeing community. Congratulations again to:

• Martin Bull

And of course, congratulations to all those achieving Club, Area and National C awards this year. Some 97 of you have passed an exam for your referee level. As well as all of you selected for our national events. There’s too many to mention here, but a very well done to you all.

Of course, amongst the highlights the year also brought news of the sad passing of a three of our former senior referees and will be missed by those that knew them.
• Tom Cotton
• John Dearden
• Sid Hearsey

Upcoming Revalidation

As referees, you’ll be familiar with the need to revalidate your status as a referee through demonstrating activity every three years. With 2024 being the start of the next cycle, Area Representatives have validated your level of activity. For any of you we can’t immediately revalidate due to not meeting the usual requirements, please don’t worry, we’ll look to work with you to provide revalidation opportunities, as we’d like to see as many of you as possible continue in refereeing. Discuss with your Area Rep if you need more opportunities or am not getting emails for events. Communication is Key.

Awards

Turning to a final positive note before closing. I’d like to congratulate Mike Guatieri on being awarded the BJA’s Referee of Year at the 2024 Awards. Mike has shown unwavering support for the next generation of refereeing talent – as a RIC, running courses and taking some of our most promising referees to events abroad to gain valuable experience. I’d also congratulate Audrie Pirie on winning Judo Scotland’s Referee of the Year.

So, an excellent year, thank you all for everything you’ve done in 2024. On behalf of the whole NRC, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

See you next year.

Best wishes,
Carol Leverton,
NRC Chair