Otago’s leading referee Adam Morrison has been retained in the development squad and will continue to officiate in Heartland fixtures next season.
Mitchell Will has been retained in the wider training group, while Stu Curran and Jono Bredin have been added to the wider training group for the first time.
Bredin and Curran are new to refereeing rugby, although Bredin is the country’s leading netball umpire. He decided to give rugby a try last season, to see where it would take him and has quickly moved up the pecking order.
In August, he was appointed to the assistant referees panel for the national provincial championship.
"It is his first year so he has made phenomenal progress," Otago Rugby Football Union referees education officer Jim Thomson said.
"The thing is he has come to us from operating in high performance sport, albeit in another sport, so he has transferred those skills over and has really gone ahead leaps and bounds."
Curran is a medical student at the University of Otago with just a year of refereeing premier rugby behind him and "is an outstanding prospect".
"We’ve not only got that four, but there are three other guys in the squad who have previously been in our association as well," Thomson added.
Ben O’Keeffe, James Doleman and Tim Griffiths have all had stints in the South.
"There are other guys still on the periphery. And the other thing is, I’ve just notified 13 referees yesterday who we have identified as capable of refereeing at prem level in Dunedin.
"With the work we’ve done over the last few years we’ve basically been able to double the pool.
"We’ve never had such a strong premier panel."
More referees means more competition for places and should result in an increase in standard.
"Better referees create better rugby. If we can upskill and supply better referees to all levels of rugby, then the experience for the players is going to be enhanced and the standard of rugby is going to improve. It is a win-win for everyone."
One of the big challenges when recruiting is the behaviour on the sideline and abuse directed at referees.
"The sad thing for us, is we start our new refs down at the junior level and that is where the ill-behaved parents shine.
"Last year some of my prem guys went down on a Saturday morning to ref ... they copped more abuse in an under-11 game on Saturday morning than they would in a prem game on a Saturday afternoon."
