TAKING ON THE BOYS - LOUISE FROST AND ANNABELLE CONNELLY

Being a referee in any sport often presents many challenges, especially if you are a female referee officiating men in sport.  For referees Louise Frost and Annabelle Connolly however, the challenge isn’t a problem.

“From a players perspective sometimes I think they think they have it over you,” Frost said. “But if you show you’re confident then its fine. I’ve had no problems at tournament level, it’s more at park level that you sometimes have problems.”

Connolly agrees that at the Opens tournament level, things run fairly smoothly.

“When I was 16-17 and refereeing the Mens 30s and older guys sometimes it was a problem,” Connolly said. “But now things are pretty good.”

Both Frost and Connolly among eight of the female referees here at the NTL Opens/20s.

Connolly, a level six, recently represented Australia at the World Cup, and experience which she describes as “brilliant”.

“I didn’t find out I was going until September – which was a fairly late call up,” Connolly said.

“It was my first time overseas and it was brilliant. If you got the Australia or New Zealand games it was really high standard. Some of the other games were big score-lines like 20-nil, which is a lot different to what you get here at the NTL.”

The 27-year old from WA has been officiating Touch for the past 11 years, and hopes to again represent at the international level.

“My goal is to be part of the Youth World Cup, and then the next World Cup in 2011,” she said.

“I had a fantastic time and made so many friends overseas, that was the best part, and it was completely different to what I expected.”

Frost, 24, refereed at her first major tournament in 2004. Like Connolly, her goal is also to referee at the international level, and currently a level four she is hoping to upgrade to level five at the NTL.

“Obviously the ultimate goal is to get my level 6 and to Referee at the World Cup in Scotland in four years time.”

The schedule to referee three-to-four games a day at the Opens NTL will be a test for Frost, who is still recovering from damaged knee cartilage, which will be operated on following the tournament.

“I’m having the op in a couple of weeks on my knee, and then I will be off for six months,” Frost said.

“After that I will be trying to get fit again, and hopefully the knee will be fixed and won’t cause any more problems.”

Sharing a room at the NTL, they say the female referees often “stick together”.

“The girls do tend to stick together, you definitely do get the feeling of being in the minority, but you tough it out,” Connolly said.

“We like to give it to the boys, but you always get it back!”