Tara Jones: Referee hopes professional debut can bring on more female officials
- Published
In addition to her officiating duties this weekend, Tara Jones will feature for St Helens in their Women's Challenge Cup quarter-final tie against Huddersfield Giants on Saturday
Tara Jones hopes that becoming the first woman to referee a men's professional northern hemisphere rugby league game will bring on female officials in the future.
Jones will referee Oldham's League One meeting with Cornwall on Sunday.
Her progression towards the appointment comes after working as a touch judge and in-goal judge in Super League.
"It'll definitely be a weekend I remember for the rest of my life," Jones told BBC Radio Merseyside.
"To go one step further and be the one in the middle in charge of a men's professional game is just the next step forward in my career.
"Hopefully going forward there will be more females and [it] will become more normalised."
The Rugby Football League (RFL) has recently aimed to bring more female officials into its officiating pathway, with Jones breaking ground by taking to the field as a referee for the first time this weekend.
It is the culmination of a long journey for Jones, who began her road to refereeing as a 12-year-old, completing a match officials course alongside playing as a junior in St Helens.
"I'm so glad to see this because at one point in time I was the only graded female match official within the RFL," she said.
"Going out and doing the next level games, pro games, I was the only one.
"Now there are more and more females being seen on appointment and in games week-in, week-out off the back of this programme that the RFL have launched, which is credit to the guys in the match officials department who've put that together."
Busy weekends playing and refereeing have 'become the norm'
As well as a full-time job and her officiating duties, Jones is also part of the St Helens side aiming to retain their Women's Challenge Cup title.
Jones made history in 2023 when she became the first player to score a try in a Women's Challenge Cup final at Wembley Stadium as Saints beat Leeds 22-8 in August.
She will take to the field on Saturday when Saints face Huddersfield at the quarter-final stage, but busy weekends are something she is used to by this point.
"It's sometimes really difficult to juggle it all, probably mentally more than physically at times," she said.
"Generally, I just try and manage it the best I can throughout the week in the build-up to the weekend, knowing what I've got on.
"It can be a challenge but it's something I'm used to. Some weekends I even have three games if I'm doing in-goal on a Friday, playing on Saturday, and refereeing on a Sunday.
"I manage the best I can and it's just the norm now."