Northland and Auckland hosted Northern Region Football referee awards nights to celebrate and recognise achievements from the 2025 season. Referees are a vital part of the game, making a huge positive difference to the quality of our competitions and everyone’s experience in football.

• Northland and Auckland celebrated referee achievements
• 3693 games covered in the 2025 season
• We launched our NRF Referee Development Plan. Check it out!

Northern Region Football's CEO, Laura Menzies, expanded, "We can already see the plan’s focus on recruiting and supporting new referees has an impact, with 60 Level 1 referees registering this year, and we are delighted to have these referees join our community." 

"Total registrations rose to 267 this year, which is really pleasing progress towards our target of 300 in 2026. We’ve had a huge number of appointments and 3693 games covered this season."

It's been great to see 60 Level 1 referees jump on board this year. A notable mention is 17-year-old Gabriel Jull, who took out the Best First-Year Referee award. Gabriel has a bright future ahead, already receiving plenty of praise while refereeing in the Youth NRFL Competitions. 

Another notable mention is Nathan Cox, who took out two awards, Most Promising Futsal Referee & Youth Referee of the Year. He was also nominated as Most Promising Referee, Youth Assistant Referee of the Year and Most Promising Referee. Alongside Nathan's dedication, his quality and consistency have earned him appointments on the panel of the Women’s National League as an Assistant Referee and the Youth Girls National League as a Referee.

Nathan Cox as Assistant Referee, Photo: Dave Morgan / www.phototek.nz August 2025

17-year-old Gabriel Jull - Best First Year Referee Photo: Shane Wenzlick / www.phototek.nz  July 2025

Interested in becoming a referee? 
Check out our Home of Referees
Or get in touch with the team at Referee@nrf.org.nz.

Awards winners

Northland

Most Improved First Year Referee - Roger Holmes

Most Improved Referee - Christian Reynolds

Dedication to Refereeing - Sean White

Mike Stather Memorial Trophy: Most Appearances​ (36) - Les Moorhouse

Personality of the Year - James Van Engelen

RDO award - Roger Holmes

Service Awards - Aaron Hooper​ (5 Years), Mike Jones, Darren Johnston, Don McDonald-Spice, Ben McInness, Paul Whitehead, Peter Farrelly​ (10 Years), Craig Crawford​ (25 Years).

Auckland

Lynn Fox Award: Most Promising Assistant Referee - James Portegys

Stephen Fletcher Memorial Award: Most Promising Community Referee - Elliot Winstanley

Ken Wallace Award: Most Promising Referee - Free Diao

Northern Region Football Award: Most Promising Futsal Referee Cup - Nathan Cox

NRF Referee Department Award: Support to the Referee Department - Jack Henderson

Chris Scott Memorial Award: Referee that Embodies the ‘Spirit’ of NRF Referees - Charlie Tseng

Ian Hiscox Award: Merit Award selected by Ian Hiscox - Colin Margison

Paul Smith Award: Merit Award selected by Paul Smith - Ken Wallace

Northern Region Football Award: Youth Assistant Referee of the Year - John Hoffman

Alexandria Wendy MacLennan Award: Youth Referee of the Year - Nathan Cox

Northern Region Football Award: Best First-Year Referee - Gabriel Jull

Futsal Referee of the Year: Trophy Donated by Avi & Romita Narayan - Courtney Day

Schipper Family Trust Cup: Community Referee of the Year - Dan Harris & Roger Williams

Northern Region Football Award: NRF Assessor of the Year - Jeremy Ferguson & Paul Smith

Lynn & Neil Fox Award: Assistant Referee of the Year - Stephen Merriman

Northern Region Football Award: Referee of the Year - Ashley Wilson

Service Awards - Paul Smith (45 Years), Chris Kerr (35 Years), Chris Casey, Derek Dow. Khalid Elgana, Paul Maguiness, Neil Tobin (20 Years), Philip Parkes, Charlie Tseng (15 years), Derek Anderson, Bridget Baker. Adam Clancey, David Cornelius, Malcolm King, James Logan, Benjamin Matthews, Michael McGranaghan, Will Roberts, Clint Van Eyssen (10 Years), Mark Cooper, Nana Kwasi, Wilhelmus Duncker, Steven Francis, Bradley Hallford, Bob McCoskrie, Munilesh Naidu (5 years). 

Article added: Friday 31 October 2025