The London and South East region has recently passed the 100 mark of active Rugby League Match Officials in the 13 a side game.

The region which covers the three Sport England regions of the East, London and South East runs numerous competitions including junior leagues, open age league and student competitions.

Danny McNeice, Match Officials Development Officer for the region said: “To top 100 active match officials is an excellent achievement for the region and it is a tribute to the hard work of the volunteers who are involved in recruitment and development of officials”.

Although the region has now reached over 100 officials there is always a need for more people to take up the whistle.

Danny continued: “Out of the 100 people we have active not all of them are available on a regular basis or are only willing to do certain areas of the game.

“Therefore the region would still like to find more people willing to referee open age rugby and the Student competitions on a Wednesday afternoon. So if anyone else wants to give officiating a go now is an excellent time to get involved.”

Over the 2011 season the RFL in the region have introduced monthly training sessions open to all match officials and these have meant that an increased number of active officials have received development and as a result there has been a widely acknowledged improvement in standards of officials over the season.

James Szymik, Director of Sport at Sussex Merlins has been delighted with the improvement in match officials, “Sussex Merlins have been really happy over this season in the noticeable standard increase of the average official.

“We have seen a lot of new faces at the club this year who have been excellent officials and I hope this continues”.

For more information about becoming a Match Official visit: www.therfl.co.uk/referee