After a career spent as the only Indigenous person in the NRL elite refereeing ranks, Gavin Badger is on a mission to ensure things change in the near future.
A proud Gadigal man with Dhungutti bloodlines, Badger officiated over 400 NRL games as both a referee and touch judge across 18 seasons, before finishing up in 2020., the number of Indigenous match officials doesn't come close to aligning with representation in the player pool, and as it stands Badger is the only Indigenous person to officiate at NRL or NRLW level.
But a new program headed up by the Badger and named after Indigenous rugby league stalwart Steve 'Bear' Hall, aims to attract more Indigenous match officials at the elite levels, and ultimately bring them into the NRL system within the next five years. "Right now we are targeting the 18-22 age group and we want the program to run for five years," Badger said.The goal is to transition two to three match officials from the program into the NRL High Performance Program.Already the NSWRL Steve 'Bear' Hall Indigenous Referees Academy has match officials controlling games in the Harold Matthews Cup, SG Ball Cup and Harvey Norman Women's Premiership competitions.
Earlier this year Badger invited eight emerging Indigenous match officials – four males and four females – to be part of the NSWRL's Talented Aboriginal Athlete program, in which they took part in cultural sessions and on-field training. "We want show these young Indigenous referees what it's like to be in a system and to try and keep them involved," Badger said.
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