Sarah flies the flag

LORRAINE MARSDEN chats with one of the up and coming stars of Rugby League officialdom, 21-year-old Sarah Bennison.

THANK goodness for football.
That might be an odd opening line for a feature in a Rugby League magazine but, truth be told, if it hadn’t been for lack of opportunities she faced in the round-ball game, the Rugby Football League would not have bright young thing Sarah in their ranks.
Sport has always been in Sarah’s blood, with the 21-year-old already on track for a career in the industry. Not only is she on the RFL books as a referee and touch judge, but she is also studying for a Sports Development degree at Leeds Met University.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever break into the full-time ranks with the RFL,” admits Bradford born and bred Sarah, “but I just want to get as high up in them as I possibly can.
“I’ve enjoyed my reffing and touch judging since I did my first game and as long as I’m enjoying it I’ll keep doing it and working my way forward.
“I started out by refereeing a few junior level football matches. I’d always wanted to play football and felt I was pretty good at it but unfortunately around Bradford there was just no team in my age group around for me to play for. It meant that the club I was with at the time put me and a couple of other people onto a refereeing course and I started down that route.
“I didn’t really do many games and there wasn’t much development or help around for me, so I ended up giving up on it.
“One day I just happened to look on the RFL website and they had something on there about applying for match officials courses. It was only about 12 quid to do it so I though ‘why not, I might as well go and do it and see what comes out of it’.”
And the rest, as they say, is history. At the age of 17, Sarah did her first two-day match officials course at Shaw Cross in Dewsbury and has never looked back in the four years since then. On March 12, 2010 she became the first female official to take part in a Championship game, running the line as Blackpool beat Rochdale 36-14.
Not that it’s been an easy ride for the Bradford Bulls supporter, who now views the game in a different light when she returns to the terraces.
“On the course we covered the laws of game and went through some drills before taking an exam at the end of the two days,” adds Sarah. “If you pass that you are put into a society and then work your way up from there and do more training and course along the way.
“I was in the Bradford and Keighley referees society to start covering games in the West Riding League and for the first two seasons I was working way up from under-12s to under-16s.
“In my third season with them, once I had turned 20, I wanted to push for open-age games and in order to do that I had to do under-18s games and I was struggling to be given them by the Bradford society. I think there was a couple of people there who didn’t like fact I was getting somewhere in the game, so I left them and joined the Dewsbury and Batley society, who I’m still with now.
“I’ve also now had two seasons actually within the RFL ranks. To join that you have to be referred to them by a development officer from the society and take a fitness test.
“When I first joined them I was able to touch judge in under-16 scholarship games and a couple of under-18 games. I took another test in January 2010 and passed that so was able to move up to touch judge in Championship games and actually referee the scholarship games.
“It’s like a ladder you move up each year and I want to get as high as possible. Ideally I’d love to be able to be on the touchline for Super League games and referee at the highest possible level I can. I’d love to referee in the Championship leagues but there’s a lot more of the process to go through before I get to that level.
“Nothing has stopped me or put me off yet. On a few occasions I have hit times when there has been a few individuals who haven’t liked the fact there is a female official I’ve battled through it and kept going, and probably earned more respect because of it.
“I was nervous leading up to the Blackpool v Rochdale game but it is really good to know that I was the first girl to touch judge at that level. I remember it was a cold Friday night game, but I really enjoyed it and went quite well.
“I got more games after that, including my first Sky game in August between Hunslet and Workington. The nerves built up all that week but Stuart Cummings was at the game and he helped me through and told me not to let the pressure get to me and just to treat it as any other game. I did and I got through it.
“In a way it is probably easier doing Championship games on the touchline than being involved in junior games.
“In junior games you’ve always got parents there who are constantly on your back and you can hear individuals constantly screaming at you all game, but during championship games the crowd is much bigger and who can’t really make out clearly what they are saying, so it’s easier not to hear it.
“My brother played rugby and I was a Bulls season ticket holder, although I couldn’t get to any games last season because I was always officiating somewhere else. Since I’ve done the course I’ve never really been able to watch a game in the same way again.
“I now tend to watch the referee and touch judges and when supporters get on their backs, most of the time I find myself saying ‘well actually that was the right decision’.
“I remember being at a Bradford-Leeds game a couple of years ago. It was a really close game and Leeds had gone over and scored but I knew from the position of the touch judge that it wasn’t going to be given. I wasn’t overly worried about it but I think my friends and family I was with were. I was right, it wasn’t given, so having the knowledge of a referee and touch judge comes in handy that way as well.”
Although 110 per cent enthusiastic Sarah may have to take a back seat at the start of the new season owing to a foot injury she is currently receiving treatment for. But that is not going to dampen her desire for more games.
“I’m seeing a specialist because I have tendonitis in my Achilles and some other problems with foot and ankle,” explains Sarah.
“It’s frustrating because I’ve not been out doing a game for a while but I’m hoping I’ll get told what I need to do to get back out there. I’m just swimming as much as I can at the minute so I can keep my fitness levels up. I’ll be missing this year’s RFL fitness test because of the injury but once that’s sorted I should get to do it. I just want to be back out there as soon as possible.”

This article was first published in Rugby League World – Issue 358 (Feb 2011). You can subscribe to future issues here.