You’ll need to complete three courses:
Once you’ve completed the three courses, you can register as a referee with Nepean Referees Group.
For more information, check out our Become a Referee webpage.
There is no registration fee to be a referee with Nepean Referees Group in the 2026 season.
However, there are some costs such as course fees, uniform purchases and other equipment like flags, notepads, cards and so on.
To become a qualified referee, you need to be at least 13 years of age.
There is no upper age limit, so long as you are physically fit enough to handle the demands of officiating a game of football of at least 60 minutes. We have several referees who are in their 60s and 70s regularly refereeing multiple games each week.
If you are under 13 and are interested in becoming a referee, we encourage you to contact your local club and ask them about becoming a cadet referee. Cadet referees generally act as game leaders for the U5 – U8 age groups, as well as officiating U9 to U12 games, which are non-competition games. Starting out as a cadet referee is a great way to build your confidence and get some experience before becoming a qualified referee.
Yes. Many of our referees currently play as well as referee. They tend to be fitter, have a better understanding of the laws of the game, and improve their ability to read the play.
As a referee, you can set your availability in Dribl around your games. We will only appoint you when you are available, meaning that you can continue to play while refereeing.
You will not be allocated to referee a game in your division.
This will depend on a range of factors including your availability, the number of matches you do, and whether you are the centre referee or an assistant referee.
Rates for each match are available from our Referee Payments webpage.
To illustrate what you might earn, let’s assume you are appointed the following for two weeks in a row:
You would earn $480 that fortnight. This is a realistic pattern for a junior referee with availability across Friday night, Saturday morning and Sunday.
You could earn even more by doing Monday nights on O30 Women’s games, and by doing some midweek games across all age groups a little later in the season (e.g. catch ups from washed out matches, Nepean Cup games etc).
Additionally, because the Australian Tax Office considers refereeing to be a hobby, you will not pay tax on any money you earn as a referee.
No. As community football refereeing is generally considered a hobby by the Australian Taxation Office, you will not pay tax on the money you receive from refereeing.
You will not have any PAYG tax withheld and you do not need to have a tax file number. Further information about this is available via the ATO website.
Referees are paid by Nepean Football Association (on behalf of Nepean Referees Group) fortnightly via direct deposit, usually on a Thursday, for the games officiated in the fortnight up to the Sunday prior.
The games you are appointed to will depend on your availability and your level of ability, and whether you are a junior or senior referee.
For junior referees starting out, you will likely be appointed to some lower-level junior matches as either a referee or assistant referee while you find your feet, and potentially as an assistant referee on senior matches with an experienced senior referee.
For senior referees starting out, you will likely be appointed a mix of some junior games and some lower-level senior games as both a centre referee and an assistant referee.
Irrespective of whether you are a junior or senior referee, for your first centre appointment, we try to ensure you are supported with either an experienced referee as one of your assistants, a mentor who can provide you with some advice and tips before the game, at half time and at full time, or an accredited coach who will give you feedback from your match and identify areas for development moving forward.
As you build your confidence and demonstrate your ability, you’ll be assigned to some higher-level games.
Yes. We can allocate you only as an assistant referee to games – you’ll just need to let us know.
Ideally, you’ll progress to being a centre referee over time but this can be at a pace and level you’re comfortable with.
Nepean Football Association trial matches usually start from late January and run through to the start of the Winter season in late March.
Competition games begin in late March and run through to the finals series in late August, with Nepean Cup finals held in early September.
Games are typically played on Friday nights, Saturdays (including Saturday evening for Waratah League), Sundays, and Monday nights.
There are usually some weeknight games from around the middle third of the competition period due to rescheduled matches (e.g. wet weather) and as part of the Nepean Cup knock out competition.
If you want to keep refereeing after the Winter season concludes, Summer Football is run in the afternoon and evenings during the week with competitions starting shortly after the conclusion of the Winter season and generally wrapping up prior to Christmas.
Yes. As a referee, you set your availability in Dribl and we will only appoint you when you are available. This can be a mix of days (e.g. Friday nights and Sundays) or timeslots that you are available (e.g. Saturdays before 1pm, Sundays after 10am). You can change your availability week to week depending on what else you have got going on.
Your availability does need to be set in Dribl at least two weeks in advance.
The greater your availability (and reliability), and the more flexible you are with travel, the more likely you will be to get more appointments.
Nepean Referees Group provides referees for Nepean Football Association competitions. This includes the greater Penrith area, Warradale, the Hawkesbury Region and Blue Mountains.
You can set a preferred region (or regions) for your appointments, but not a preferred ground. You will generally be appointed only to the one ground on any given day.
If you are playing and you are available either before or after your game, you can make a note in Dribl and we will try and appoint you at that field or a nearby field.
Referees and assistant referees need to arrive at the ground at least 30 minutes prior to kick off.
This will allows enough time to:
For referees and assistant referees appointed to Ruby League or Waratah League matches, it is expected that you will arrive at least 45 minutes prior to kick off.
For each game, you will need:
We also encourage you to bring deodorant and a gym towel or small towel to wipe away sweat on warmer days.
We understand that people get sick or things come up that are beyond your control, and you need to ‘call off’ after being appointed. If you do need to call off, you simply send a text message to the dedicated NRG mobile number and we will remove your appointment.
We ask you make every effort to honour all your appointments and call off only when it is necessary. This is because when you call off, it has a knock-on impact. It is likely to affect other referees who need to be reassigned either to cover your call off or be reallocated to another match because there is no longer a centre referee available for the match you were allocated. It affects clubs and teams, who are forced to find an unofficial referee at the last minute.
Referees who regularly call off may find a reduction in the number of games they are being appointed. Further, habitual offenders may be asked to formally respond to the Management Committee on why they should not have their registration as a referee suspended or cancelled.
Learning and development is an important aspect for all referees, from FIFA-level to grass-roots levels.
During 2026, we will be working to try and provide individual coaching for each referee at least once during the year (subject to resources and availability). Coaching aims to provide structured feedback on match performance and identify opportunities for improvement.
To build our referees’ knowledge of the laws of the game, we publish a match scenario with a multiple choice question each week via our ‘Spond’ Group, with an explanation of the relevant laws and decision-making process.
Every month, we also have a members’ meeting where we share information, workshop challenges and run through practical skills and techniques.
There is regular training held on the second Tuesday evening of every month from February to August, which alternates between theory and practical sessions each month. The training is face to face and strongly recommended for all members.
The sessions cover:
Attending training will improve your refereeing experience and help you progress faster to higher-level matches and finals. Referees who regularly attend training tend to enjoy refereeing more and advance more quickly.
Training attendance plays a key role in match appointments and considerations for representative matches and finals appointments.
Our job as a referee is to facilitate a game of football and to referee to the best of your ability. If you realise in a match that you did get a call wrong, acknowledge it internally and focus on your next decision. As a referee, the objective is continuous improvement, not perfection.
One of the most important things to keep in mind is that, just because a player, coach, or spectator disagrees with a call (or no call) doesn’t mean that you’ve made a wrong decision. Managing player, coach and spectator behaviour is part of our practical session, so even if people have a different view to your decision, you’ll have the tools to handle it.
You also have access to support through Nepean Referees Group’s Management Committee, including the Member Protection Officer (Vice President), the Branch Coach, and the NRG President, who are available to talk through any experiences, games or decisions you may have had.
Yes. Nepean Referees Group has seen several referees go on to become FIFA and A-League referees.
Our Alumni includes Sarah Ho (FIFA and A-League), Emma Kocbek (FIFA and A-League), Alexis Turner (A-League) and Molly Godsell (A-League).
We have had several referees accepted into, and graduate from, the Football NSW Referees Academy in recent years, many of whom are mixing their appointments between Nepean Referees Group and NPL Men’s and Women’s games.
We also have a good number of referees participating in the Football NSW Referee Development Panel.
Nepean Referees Group referees wear a Legea uniform supplied by Hallmark Sports. We have secured two exceptional value kits – a base package for $240, or a value kit for $360.
The base kit includes:
The value kit includes the base kit plus:
And either:
For sizing, please check out the Hallmark Sports sizing chart webpage.
To place an order, please Contact us.
Additional items can also be purchased individually via Hallmark Sports.
If you are under 18, you do not need a WWCC. When you register as a referee in PlayFootball, the system will ask you for your WWCC details. All you need to do is put in an exemption reason that you are under 18.
If you are 18 years or older, you must have a paid WWCC. Further information about obtaining your WWCC is available from Service NSW.