International Rugby League (IRL), the governing body of the international game, has announced the names of the successful referees who will be able to officiate international matches at tier 2 level as part of the newly formed International Match Officials Squad (IMOS).
MOS will operate underneath the Elite Match Officials Squad (EMOS) and will generally officiate games that do not involve the top four ranked countries.
IMOS has officials from eight different countries, which reflects the development of match officials around the world. The only way to be considered for EMOS in the future is to have officiated as a member of IMOS, which gives a strong incentive for the match officials in this group to perform at their best.
The newly issued list includes the first three women to be selected for IMOS. And as a sign of strategic intent to accelerate the opportunities for and development of women officials in international Rugby League, IMOS can be expanded to 24 referees, no more than 16 of whom will be men.
On announcing the make-up of the squad, IRL Match Officials Manager Stuart Cummings said: “This has been a very difficult selection process with a number of candidates just missing out. The squad reflects the level of competitions around the world and the continued improvement in the performance and training of match officials. It is also important that we recognise the great strides made in the development and performance of our female officials by starting to develop their pathway and create more opportunities for them. The squad size will grow as we receive more nominations.”
The IRL International Match Officials Squad is:
Kasey Badger Australia
James Child England
Anthony Eliott New Zealand
Adam Gee Australia
Peter Gough Australia
James Jones Wales
Chris McMillan New Zealand
Scott Mikalauskas England
Paki Parkinson New Zealand
Andrew Pilkington Spain
Geoffrey Poumes France
Hanua Rupa Papua New Guinea
Belinda Sharpe Australia
Chris Sutton Australia
Rochelle Tamarua New Zealand
Ben Thaler England
Etika Tukana Fiji
Stephane Vincent France
Paul Wane Papua New Guinea