Brent Best died suddenly in Christchurch last week, aged 48. Best had an unparalleled refereeing record in Otago, acting as an assistant referee in many top events, including the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa.
He had moved to Christchurch 18 months ago, after being transferred there through his work with Downer but, up until that point, had been involved with coaching and assessing Otago's and New Zealand's top referees.
He appeared in six Fifa tournaments and seven Oceania Football Confederation tournaments. He ran the sidelines in 36 Australia national league games, along with 87 New Zealand national league games. In 2006, 2008 and 2009 he was named New Zealand Football assistant referee of the year.
Football South referee development officer Wilson James said Best would be a huge loss to the refereeing community.
''He was passionate about his refereeing and determined to be the best ref he could be,'' James said.
''He was an excellent assistant referee. He had brilliant skills at judging offsides and other factors that assistant referees have to take into account when they're doing their role.
''He had a good rapport with the players, he knew how to react with the players when things happened close to him and he knew how to let them know to play the ball and not the man and that sort of thing.''
Born in Oamaru, Best first attended a refereeing course as a 15-year-old at Waitaki Boys' High School. He began refereeing seriously in 1992 and moved to Dunedin in 1998.
After reaching the national level, he decided to specialise as an assistant referee, having a skill set suited to that role, along with wanting to give himself the best chance to reach the top level.
In 2004, he became a Fifa assistant referee, holding that status through to 2012, when he became a referee assessor and coach.
At the 2010 World Cup, he was part of the officiating teams for three games, including the game between Brazil and Portugal in front of a sold-out crowd of 53,000 in Durban.
James said Best's career was a shining light in southern refereeing circles. Only a handful of the regions' referees had reached Fifa level and none for the length of time of Best.
His funeral will be held tomorrow in Christchurch. Several Dunedin referees will travel up to pay their respects.
-By Jeff Cheshire
