By Casey O'Connor
Respected Southern Downs and Granite Belt rugby league referee Mick Mahoney has been honoured for his more than two decades of dedication.
Mahoney was made a life member of the TRL Refeees Association at their presentation on Saturday night – a move that took the quiet achiever by surprise.
Mahoeny has been an integral part of the Rugby League community on the Southern Downs for more years than he cares to admit ,and despite being involved in refereeing for more than two decades Mick had never been to a TRL Referees Association presentation evening until the weekend.
Mick said he didn’t understand why he had to be there on Saturday night but said he was completely blindsided when he was inducted as a Life Member of the TRL Referees Association.
“I am over the moon,” he said.
“This is totally unexpected”
“I was stunned and to say I was overwhelmed is an understatement.
“This is something I never could have expected.”
Mahoney was not the only official from Stanthorpe to be acknowledged during the evening. One of his partners in crime Michael Bell was named Warwick and District Referee of the Year.
Bell began refereeing Rugby League in 2015 but prior to that was heavily involved in Touch Football.
Since becoming involved aside from travelling many, many kilometres which involved a few arguments with kangaroos he has refereed Grand finals in Border Rugby league and Warwick and district Rugby League. He has also refereed both Reserve Grade and A Grade TRL games .
As a level two referee and referee coach he is now the Stanthorpe Gremlins referee co-ordinator and is on the TRL referees’ board.
Not one to seek accolades Mick Mahoney has been a tireless worker for the TRL, BRL and Warwick and District Junior Rugby League after becoming involved when his kids following in their father’s footsteps began playing for the Gremlins.
With a shortage of referees for the juniors, Mahoney became involved, and his involvement has not dimmish over the ensuing years it has only grown.
Mahoney, who is also a Life Member of the Stanthorpe Gremlins, has held many positions since those early days including junior coach, Junior Club President and referee and has been an unwavering supporter of Junior Rugby League across the Southern Downs.
For over 13 years he was also an integral part of the support/management team for the Assumption/St Joey’s Confraternity rugby league team competition. Stepping away from this role in 2019.
From a refereeing perspective, Mahoney has been involved in refereeing and referee development since 2010. During that time he has coordinated the referee allocations, mentored and given wise counsel to the many junior match officials that have come through the WDJRL/TRL system.
He is passionate about rugby league and in particular refereeing setting a wonderful example for future referees, ensuring they present themselves professionally and approach games with the utmost integrity.
A stickler for doing things well, Mahoney is the person who ensures the referee’s shed is prepared for the following week’s games, making sure footies are pumped, referee shirts pressed, and rules printed and available for those juniors who may want to have a quick refresh.
For the past few season’s Mahoney has benched himself running the sideline rather than doing centres most weekends in junior and senior games, although he has done some centres during this season in Under 17 games.
“I’m getting to old,” he said.
Mahoney is a passionate believer in growing the ranks of the referees from the juniors up and is keen to see many more youngsters take on the role.
“It was so great to see so many junior referees at the presentation night,” he remarked.
“They were seated together and many of them won awards.
“You could see them making connections and sharing experiences.
“It bodes well for the future of the TRL Referees Association.
He was especially delighted to see Stanthorpe junior referees receive awards during the presentation evening.
Mahoney has said the 2023 season is his last and that he will be hanging up the whistle, flag and his boots.
That is of course if the rabid Broncos fan recovers from his team’s devastating loss in the NRL Grand final.
Both Bell and Mahoney were delighted when youngster Stanthorpe youngsters received the following awards on Saturday night.
Stanthorpe Gremlins Rugby League
Referee of the Year – Nick Sweet; Referee Encouragement Award – Thane Hills; Junior Laws Referee of the Year
– Nick Sweet; International Laws Referee of the Year – Michael Thompson.
