One of Hong Kong’s top female development referees has just returned from a 10 day tour to North Harbour in New Zealand.

Jan TANG Yuen Yee, who took up the whistle in 2018 after playing Women’s Premiership for City RFC, was selected from the wider refereeing community to represent Hong Kong on this long standing exchange and certainly made the most of the opportunity.

During the 10 day trip, Jan officiated in eight games, including a Women’s Premiership fixture and as an Assistant Referee in their Men’s Premiership. This provided a great development environment for Jan and she was watched by an experienced referee coach during most of these matches.

For Jan, it was a fantastic chance to experience rugby in a different environment, “The games were intense and provided a challenge to me. One thing I learnt was that being in the right position to have a clear picture of each breakdown can definitely help to make an accurate decision. It was a very memorable and challenging experience and I have really learnt a lot and will try to adopt these in my future games.”

This trip is just one of many that Hong Kong’s referees have the opportunity to experience. Those who are performing well and putting in the hard work to develop themselves will be rewarded with this extra level of support.

The HKRU’s Head of Match Officiating Hugh Watkins was pleased to see Jan perform well in New Zealand. “It’s fantastic to see our development referees get these types of experiences and improve their game back here in Hong Kong. We have some exciting prospects coming through the ranks and to have some of our best female development referees taking up these opportunities is great for the game.” Jan’s trip follows on from Aggie POON Pak Yan heading to the Amsterdam 7s recently as part of Hong Kong’s referee team.

These development opportunities all form part of the HKRU’s Referee Development Pathway which aims to assist our aspirational referees on the way to Premiership refereeing and onwards towards international fixtures. To get involved, attend one of our upcoming courses - https://www.hkrugby.com/pages/referee-courses or for those who are already qualified, contact [email protected].