Bermuda Rugby has gained five new referees in Karly Alleyne, Deneka Borden, Ashley Godek, Dakarai Grant and Tommy Westhead.

The newly sanctioned Level One referees participated in an on-island course hosted by the Bermuda Rugby Football Union and led by Rugby America North’s World Rugby educator, Scott Harland.

In the weeks leading up to the course, each of the five candidates completed online modules and exams covering introduction to match officiating, rugby ready and world rugby laws.

The face-to-face side of the course involved eight hours of practical instruction on how to referee rugby. Training modules included game management, positioning, proper use of the whistle and signals.

Each of the five candidates obtained their Level One match certificate valid across the XVs and Sevens formats of the game.

The new referees will continue gaining valuable experience by shadowing assistant referees along touchlines at domestic league games, refereeing women’s touch, middle school contact and touch, primary school touch, girls development squad games and the summer touch league.

They will also join in refereeing the high school league as assistant referees as well as the Ariel Re 7s next month.

As they gain more experience, they will become eligible to referee and assistant referee high school games, in addition to men’s and women’s Sevens and XVs games.

“Our new referees are a great addition to the referee society and Bermuda Rugby, as the number of games is growing at all levels,” said Nick Carbone, head of the BRFU referee society.

“As they develop, they will have the opportunity to referee at the top level in Bermuda and internationally.”