First Year Referee Achievement

First Awarded

2006

Current Criteria

Overall achievement/progress of referee in their first ever season as a registered referee, or a referee in their second season who refereed 4 games or less in the previous season.

History

The Dave Edwards Trophy was first presented by the man himself in 2006. He started refereeing for Bay of Plenty in 1991. He worked his way up to senior reserve status, but spent a lot of time  refereeing junior rugby in the mornings. As time went by he gradually transitioned into coaching junior referees.

As a referee coach he saw a need to recognise the efforts of new referees in the sport – that is how the Trophy was born. The award acknowledges the progress and hard work put in by first year referees. 

He retired from referee coaching in 2022 but still looks forward to finding out who receives the award each year.

Recipients

2006 Ryan Palmer

2007 Lester Gray

2008 Perenara Ririnui

2009 Mark Lawrence

2010 Jamie Bell

2011 Mark Hollinshead

2012 George Haswell

2013 Troy Fairest

2014 Jordan Ranapia

2015 Flynn Butler

2016 Rees Uerata

2017 Peter Morgan

2018 Sean Curragh

2019 Hemi Tulemau

2021 Henry Scholes

2022 Kei Taite