He admits as a player he was "not very good" and injuries began to play their part through his teenage years.
During his final year at Otago Boys’ High School, he decided to give refereeing a go.
It was something he loved immediately and has continued ever since.
Thirteen years on, he has made it his full-time job.
Hale (29) began as Otago Rugby’s new game development refereeing officer three weeks ago — a new title for the referee education officer role, previously held by Tumua Ioane.
Hale has been working as a locksmith for the past eight years, and before that studied at the Otago Institute of Sport.
When the role became vacant, he decided to give it a go and make rugby his job, he said.
So far, it was going well.
"It’s a challenge, but one I knew was going to be part of the job," Hale said.
"I relish a good challenge. I love getting out and meeting people. I’ve had the opportunity to do that throughout the first three weeks in South, Central and Metro."
Recruiting new referees would be the big challenge, Hale said.
At present the province had 98 referees for this year, four fewer than last year.
That was 10-15 short of where it needed to be "in an ideal world".
Notably, three of Dunedin’s premier referees had moved on, requiring everyone to step up a grade, which put pressure on the bottom grade.
Creating a good culture would be key to attracting new people to refereeing, he said.
That had been part of what had made him enjoy refereeing so much.
"I think it goes back to the culture we’re trying to create ... an environment people want to be part of and feel supported, like they belong to something.
"I think that goes a long way to getting those numbers up. Hopefully, we can sway a few ex-players, too, while we’re at it."
It was an interesting time to come into a refereeing role, he said.
Officiating has been in the spotlight in recent weeks at Super Rugby level, drawing the attention from both fans and high-profile players Aaron Smith and Ardie Savea.
While admitting it did not help, Hale said the game at the community level was very different.
He also felt while the negative aspects of the job were often highlighted, there were plenty of positives that made it "pretty bloody good fun".
"My take is it is definitely a different game.
"Our focus at community level and the goals we have are a bit different to the goals we have at the pinnacle of our game.
"We have different focus areas. It’s the same game, the same set of rules, but we have a different approach.
"It’s more around education and developing players and referees, rather than being so finicky about red card, yellow card process."
