Referee profile: Aaron Conlon

Above: Up and coming referee Aaron Conlon at Rongotai College

Aaron Conlon ?a 18 year old from Taihape, traded in the gumboots for rugby boots and a whistle. Aaron joined the Wellington Rugby Referees Association (WRRA) at the young age of 16 and has enjoyed every bit so far.

In his short career he has already experienced a lot, "I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to take part in the Wellington HERTZ sevens, it was a great opportunity to spend time with more senior referees, observe international referees."

Aaron works hard to keep mentally fit for refereeing," I ref basketball in the off season, mental fitness is vital for rugby refereeing, and refereeing basketball maintains that fitness."

Aaron's ?biggest game he has officiated is the U65 final in 2012 between HIBS and St Pats Wellington. Now he has started refereeing men's club rugby, where he recently did an U85kg game between Poneke and Paremata-Plimmerton. He noticed the step up, but was able to handle the pressure and have an all round good game

Aaron admires, and likes to model himself on the international rugby ref Craig Joubert, but he also says "In our own association, I would have to say that I find the overall performance of young referee Vincent Ringrose admirable".

The most difficult aspect of the game Aaron finds is the break down," People think that refs have super vision, but the fact of the matter is that we don't, we are always going to miss things".

Being from the small town of Taihape Aaron says" they liveand breathe rugby", so when a persisting knee injury ruled him out of playing rugby indefinitely, the next best thing was to referee it. Now he say "The sky's are the limit, I will take refereeing as far as I can"

With Aaron being a good prospect for the WRRA, he has a younger brother Michael Conlon who has apparently ?thought of giving refereeing a go but only time will tell.

Aaron is studying to be a paramedic so I think your in safe hands if you get an injury on field while he's referee.

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