Whistle a new role
Former Black Fern was a star rugby player. Now she is shining with the whistle as the person at the centre of the action. Bush Telegraph editor Steve Carle reports.
Becca Mahoney, 33, is New Zealand's first female to referee a first-class men's rugby match.
Living at Alfredton in the Tararua District, Becca is well-known as a Black Fern in two World Cup winning teams in 2006 and 2010.
Becca made her Black Ferns debut in 2004, having played club and provincial representative rugby for Manawatu, Hawke's Bay, Wellington and club rugby for Eketahuna. She played for England's Under 20s team when she was 19 years old. She wore the white jersey for England against Scotland at Murrayfield “which was bitterly cold,” said Becca. She turned down a full-time contract there and decided to come back for the black jersey. In between World Cups Becca has had two children.
Becca started refereeing in 2015 after passing her law exams and fitness testing. After consulting with the New Zealand Rugby Union she was told she would not be restricted by men's or women's rugby, allowing her to become New Zealand's first female to referee first-class rugby.
``I had achieved everything there was to achieve in the women's game. And I wanted a new challenge. I think I can be a better ref. than a player, it suits me perfectly. I have a passion for the game and refereeing keeps my hand in,'' she said.
The new rules are hard to keep up with but Becca adapts pretty quickly “They are what they are,” she says. While being contracted to New Zealand Rugby, Becca's main business is running a sheep/beef farm. Her hours are split into 20 hours weekly doing refereeing, 45 hours for farmwork and the rest for her children and husband. He owns a crutching business, Mahoney Crutching, and is rarely home, but Becca's mother, Tararua District Councillor Shirley Hull, makes sure she stays on track while her father is fulltime with her in the business.
In 2015 Becca was referee in the women's provincial competition final — a first for someone in their first year of refereeing. But there has been a cost at this level of competition with two significant injuries to calf muscles.
“This is the main risk for referees. It's the bio-mechanics being totally different to the straight ahead running by players. It's stressful on the legs and has slowed down opportunities with world rugby for me,” she said.
In 2016 Becca spent the first five months of the year in rehabilitation.
“I haven't reffed one full year of rugby yet,” she said. Becca is cared for by Ian Murphy, the New Zealand Rugby Union's doctor. He has stopped scanning Becca, as she has so much scar tissue it is too hard to differentiate between tears. It is estimated that Becca runs 2.5km in a typical game of sevens rugby and this puts big demands on the body. It is typical for pro-era referees to retire between 40 and 45.
From July last year Becca started working again to become the first female to referee a men's first class rugby match in New Zealand. She was invited into one of the men's national squads to referee the Jock Hobbs Under 19s nationals in September last year at Taupo.
It was a full camp for seven days where games were watched and analysed, with three games reffed.
Becca refereed the Women's National Final at the end of October between Counties and Auckland at the Pukekohe stadium. She travels all over New Zealand after Women's 15s competitions.
A highlight was going to Dubai for World Rugby where Becca refereed the sevens and was named female referee of the tournament. She flew home to New Zealand, then six days later flew to Hong Kong for the first test in World Cup qualifiers in 15s rugby, Japan v Hong Kong. Then it was back to New Zealand for Central Region qualifiers for sevens and also refereeing the New Zealand Women's Nationals final in Rotorua.
At the end of January this year Becca went to Sydney for the Sydney
‘I enjoy it, I get on with the players. It's a challenge with benefits of travelling the world.’ — Becca Mahoney, former Black Fern and now referee
sevens, part of the World Series to referee in front of 60,000 people dressed up like they do at the Wellington sevens.
“The Allianz Stadium is an outstanding stadium,” said Becca. But she was not daunted as she had played at Twickenham and in World Cup Women’s Rugby.
“My rugby playing background helps me to be laid back. I don’t get nervous — its not about me. Women’s rugby is growing bigger and bigger and I enjoy watching the development.
Becca goes to all New Zealand Women’s sevens camps as a referee at Mt Maunganui monthly.
Her next debut will be in front of a crowd of 80,000 at the Hong Kong sevens on April 7 and 8 where she will be in charge of six games, reviewing after each game. Then home for six days and back to Japan for more sevens, crossing the time zone four times.
She will be involved in sevens camps May to June then will be involved in a Black Ferns test match series with three tests. In August it’s calf rearing then Women’s rep rugby.
Last year Becca was nominated for ref of the year (her first year as a referee) but lost out to Glen Jackson. Ironically she had been nominated in the past as female player of the year — a double feat hard to emulate.
There are the Olympics at Tokyo and the Commonwealth Games and World Cup in 2018 coming up on Becca’s radar.