Southland Rugby's Referee scholarships and wellbeing initiatives

Andrew Rowland, previously chair of Rugby Southland Referees joins me to talk about two initiatives they are running in the furthest south peninsula of New Zealand.Firstly their Referees of the Future Scholarship initiative - a new way of attracting young (and not so young....) people into refereeing. We look at what's behind it, what's the 'offer' and how it's going so far. There's some more info here on their 2026 scholarship awardees.And then Andrew and I talked about their Chaplaincy offer for their match officials in the province. We talk about what it is, what it's not, and how it's helped him and his fellow referees. If the word chaplaincy sends you down a certain thought route (as it did for me), then worth listening to what it actually is.For more about refereeing in Southland, head here.If you have any comments about this episode, or suggestions for future shows, then drop me a line at ref@rugbyreferee.net!You can follow us here:Twitter: RugbyRefereenetInstagram: RugbyRefereenetFacebook: Page: RugbyReferee.netFacebook Group: RugbyReferee.net CommunityOr you can connect with Keith personally on Twitter or LinkedIn