Sarah Corrigan made history at the IRB U19 World Championship
Photo: Graham Crichton
3 MAY 2007
By Karen Bond
Sarah Corrigan was no different from any of the players, coaches, referees and touch judges who congregated in Belfast, Northern Ireland for the IRB Under 19 World Championship 2007 in that she was there to learn from the experience.
The Australian match official though did create her own piece of history when she took charge of the Division B match between Zimbabwe v Canada on 4 April, becoming the first female to referee at an IRB tournament outside the Women’s Rugby World Cup.
However while her selection was undoubtedly a huge honour for Corrigan, her main focus was simply to learn as much as possible from her experiences on and off the field to take her refereeing to the next level.
“I was just really excited to be here, it’s a real honour and I knew it was just an awesome opportunity to develop my refereeing, so a bit of work to do and hopefully I will maybe get to come back and improve on what I did here,” Corrigan told irbu19.com.
Corrigan, who turns 27 next month, refereed four Division B games in Zimbabwe v Canada, both Chinese Taipei and the Cook Islands’ encounters and the South American affair between Uruguay and Chile.
Better understanding
She was also a touch judge in six matches – all bar one of them in Division A with eventual champions New Zealand’s opening encounter with Wales and France’s games against South Africa and England among them.
“I definitely learned a lot. That is what I came to this tournament to do, to improve my refereeing and I really feel I have done that. I had some very challenging games, which was good. It sort of helps you work on your management.
“I think I have got a better understanding of where I am and what work I need to do now so if I get to come back to a tournament like this I can sort of push up to the top of the B Division, maybe bottom of the A Division.”
An art science [archaeology and earth science] student at the Australian National University in Canberra, Corrigan was selected on the back of her performances at the Women’s RWC, where she refereed the third place playoff involving France and Canada.
Corrigan quickly noticed a difference between that tournament last September and the IRB Under 19 World Championship 2007, not least with being the only female on the match officials team and not one of 12 at the Women’s RWC in Canada.
Referee academy
“This tournament is a completely different experience, the women’s game is a lot slower and a lot more textbook, so what you see in the law books is what sort of happens out on the field, whereas the guys tend to be a little bit quicker and a little more dynamic.
“It is excellent to be able to come to these kind of tournament and look at how different referees handle different areas of the game, particularly when you are touch judging for the A matches, I mean watching some of those guys, their positioning, just little things they do that you can take into your game as a way to improve it.”
The next target on Corrigan’s radar is getting into the referee academy in Australia, although she knows that the competition will be tough and require even more dedication to the craft than has brought the 26-year-old to this point in her career.
“I think as a female referee there are sort of certain stigmas that comes with that, you find you have to work just as hard, even probably harder than the guys because you are always trying to sort of prove yourself,” Corrigan added.
“It requires a lot of fitness, the IRB fitness protocols aren’t easy to reach, so sort of fitness every day and you have to really work on your refereeing, I mean you are competing with some of the young male referees who are going to be the next international men’s referees. The competition is very tough.”
No difference
Corrigan though isn’t one to shirk a challenge, having taken up refereeing while at college on the advice of her father after her parents expressed their concerns when she came back from a tournament completely taken with this “awesome” game.
Even if sometimes the tag of female referee puts her on a pedestal.
“I don’t like being sort of differentiated and put to the side. I think on the first day they were like, ‘oh we have put you in your own separate changing rooms’, which doesn’t sort of help the team environment.
“I mean week in, week out you are sort of refereeing guys, dealing with teams of three that are all guys and if they make exceptions for you for being a woman you are not achieving where you want to achieve and so I don’t like being differentiated at all.
I think it’s great we can hold her up there to other women that you can compete in this sport at this level and mix it with the boys.
IRB Referee Manager Paddy O'Brien on Sarah Corrigan
“Hopefully I am sort of opening doors for other female referees coming through to show that it is possible, you can get there and the rugby is good and the opportunities are definitely there if you want to put the fitness and the hard work into your refereeing.”
Perfect example
Corrigan refuses to rule out the possibility that one day a woman could referee a Test match at the highest level, saying: “It is hard to say, that kind of step up is I think several years down the track, I don’t think it will quite be in my lifetime.
“It is hard to say, I mean the pace of the game, if a female referee came along and had the presence, the game knowledge and the fitness, it could be done. I don’t think it can’t be done, but it will take a lot of dedication to get there.”
The Australian certainly has the backing of Paddy O’Brien, the IRB Referee Manager.
“I think the biggest myth is we’ve taken a token woman to this tournament. Sarah Corrigan is here on merit, she had an outstanding tournament at the Women’s World Cup, and she’s holding her own in the B Division,” O’Brien told irbu19.com.
“She is not here as a woman referee, she is here as one of my 14 referees. I think it’s great we can hold her up there to other women that you can compete in this sport at this level and mix it with the boys. Sarah is an outstanding individual on and off the field and I think she does great credit to women’s rugby.”
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