Touch Football Australia (TFA) is proud to release a new Referee Education and Development Framework (Framework) to enhance the experience and grow the sport. The new Framework streamlines the referee pathway in our sport and provides opportunities for ongoing development for officials in their respective officiating environments. Importantly TFA is proud to align with the Australian Sport Commission’s ‘modern officiating approach’ by offering a variety of opportunities to develop and achieve their personal best.
Referees in our game will be nurtured and supported by their Affiliate, State, and National coaches as they strive to be selected to officiate in high-performance environments such as State of Origin or the international arena through the Federation of International Touch.
To access the new Referee Education and Development Framework, click here. The key changes within the Framework for our referees are:
- Transition from six (6) levels to four (4), with the removal of a numbering system for the levels to names that reflect the environment they officiate in being:
- Affiliate Referee
- Representative Graded Referee
- State Graded Referee
- National Graded Referee
- Two levels of Course:
- Affiliate Referee Course delivered face-to-face across three hours; and the
- Representative Referee Theory Course, delivered via eLearning in The Nest.
- Followed by three Grading opportunities:
- Representative Grading;
- State Grading; and a
- National Grading.
- New Grading sheets incorporate the modern approach to officiating in Touch Football and focus on achieving game outcomes relative to the environment the referee is officiating in.
- Representative Referee Grading opportunities will be available at State/Territory designated events.
- State Referee Grading opportunities will occur once per year at the flagship State/Territory event unless otherwise endorsed by their home entity.
- The National Referee Grading opportunities will occur at The Championships event held annually in March.
- An annual update development module will be released each year in June for referees who are interested in expanding their knowledge of trends in the game.
Rollout Timeline
- 7 April – Referee-specific communications.
- 8 April – TFA Affiliate newsletter.
- 11 April – Affiliate Referee Course package released to TFA Facilitators to commence rehearsals.
- 14 April – etrainu and TFA commence the transition of referee profiles in The Nest.
- 18 April – Representative Referee course uploaded into The Nest and new Grading sheets uploaded.
- 28 April – Referee profiles in The Nest are fully transitioned across to the ‘new’ Framework and Referee Development Modules are available to all referees.
- From 1 May – Framework comes into effect including first use of the Affiliate Referee Course package endorsed by TFA.
For frequently asked questions, please click here.
