Kiwi sisters to achieve unique first in NRLW

This weekend, for the first time in NRL or NRLW history, siblings will take the field in a competition round with one playing and the other refereeing.

On Sunday Rochelle Tamarua will referee her first NRL Telstra Women's Premiership match between the Titans and Knights, just one day after her younger sister Crystal comes off the bench for the Broncos against the Roosters at Suncorp Stadium.

While Crystal is a veteran of the women’s league scene, having represented the Kiwi Ferns on several occasions and played in the NRLW since its inaugural season in 2018, Rochelle only made her debut as a touch judge in the competition last weekend, before earning a middle appointment for round 2.

Ahead of watching his daughters take the field in their respective roles, Peter Tamarua told NRL.com he and wife Ngavaine are incredibly proud.

"I’m over the moon! We’re so proud of Rochelle and Crystal to have got this far,” he said.

"It’s pretty hard to make it to that level, for players or referees, and they’ve had to work for it.

“It will be great to have them both out there representing the family and New Zealand league.”

The road to the NRLW hasn’t been straightforward for New Zealand-based Rochelle, who endured a frustrating past two years in which limited rugby league activity at home due to COVID-19 – coupled with border restrictions which prevented her from attending competitions in Australia – meant she had few development opportunities.

But things turned around this year, and after being invited to officiate at the NRL National Women’s Championship in June, which she refereed the final of, Rochelle returned to Australia the following month for the National Schoolboy Championship and earned the middle appointment for the U-15 final.

“COVID was hard, probably the hardest period in terms of my mental focus, and at times the light at the end of the tunnel became smaller in terms of refereeing opportunities,” Rochelle told NRL.com

“In New Zealand we weren’t training for anything really and we didn’t know if our training would pay off.

“At times I thought I was kidding myself if I thought I’d be reffing NRLW in a year or two.

“But this is an opportunity I have always wanted and I’m very excited for it.

Neither Crystal or I thought we’d get this far, so to be here in a prestigious competition and to do it at the same time as my sister, is a double blessing.

Rochelle Tamarua NRLW referee

“She is proud of me and she knows how long I have worked for this opportunity, and she knows the setbacks there have been along the way.”

Rochelle will also be the first New Zealand woman – and person of Cook Island and Māori heritage – to control an NRLW match, and her arrival in the competition means there are now six female match officials currently taking part in the NRLW.

With the competition expanding from six to 10 teams in 2023, Jared Maxwell, the NRL’s general manager of elite officiating, said it was a positive to see more female officials coming through to the top level.  

“I think it’s a really good opportunity for officiating to keep up with that level of [competition] expansion,” he said.

“We’re doing a lot of work behind the scenes on the female pathways and working with (senior manager for officiating education and development) Tony Archer on the Women in League Officiating Program, with the ultimate goal to have a clear female pathway to present to the NRLW competition.

“We are a bit light on female referees in our second-tier system, hence going back to the importance of the pathways to get that number higher than what it is.”

The former NRL referee also said he also hopes Rochelle’s story will inspire more New Zealand and Pacific Island women to get involved in match officiating.

“I think we probably underestimate this to a degree, but I’ve seen it firsthand, the role model aspect and what impact they can have on referees at the lower levels," he said.

“We are working closely with the New Zealand Rugby League around the same sort of initiatives we are working on here in Australia and if Rochelle’s appointment this weekend can benefit other officials there, I think that’s of great benefit to the game.”