Name: Jean Bone
Age: 62
Zone: Northern Inland Football
Years in Referee Administration: 17
Jean Bone has been the Northern Inland Referee Co-ordinator for three (3) years now but has also been involved through an administration role for over seventeen (17) years.
With a strong passion for getting referees out on the park, Jean takes on many challenges to ensure referees enjoy their time as much as the players and members in her Zone.
Jean’s responsibilities range from appointing referees on a weekly basis for competitive matches, organising referee courses, training nights and meetings, making sure new, and young referees are being mentored as well as promoting referees to encourage new recruits.
Jean says while she faces some challenges in her role, there are many, many positives.
“I was originally asked by the local branch if I would be interested in taking the role.
“One of the challenges is finding a referee who is willing to travel as we have lots of senior games that are out of town.
“What I really enjoy about my role is meeting new people.”
Her goal in her role is to continue building the number of senior referees throughout Northern Inland and to hopefully have all referees reach Level 2 accreditation.
Although she acknowledges the fact that referees can often be the subject of criticism and abuse from the football community, Jean encouraged others to step up and take on the task.
“In Northern Inland, we are a very supportive group of people who just love the sport,” she said.
“One of my career highlights is certainly seeing the young referees achieve their goals.
“If I could pass on one piece of advice to match official, it would be to do your best.”
Thank you, Jean and all the referee administrators, throughout the game for your contribution.
