England star Tara Jones opens up on decision to quit rugby league for referee job
England star Tara Jones opens up on decision to quit rugby league for referee job
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She could so easily have just kept winning trophies and scoring tries for St Helens and England. But, instead, Tara Jones decided to switch from poacher to gamekeeper. The star hooker, 28, quit playing at the end of last season - to become the first woman to join the RFL’s full-time match officials department.
She admitted to Mirror Sport: “I am enjoying it. It’s been pretty intense “I was in for three weeks before Christmas and it’s great to be able to now put 100 percent in that [referee] progression. “I’ll always miss playing - it’d be strange if I didn’t - but I’d done pretty much everything I could by that stage with St Helens. And I’d played in a World Cup and won 14 caps for England.
“It was the right time to hang up my boots and focus on being an official. The chance doesn’t come up too often and I couldn't put it off too much longer.”. Jones started out officiating at the age of just 12 and has already made history on the RFL’s Grade One officials list. She became the first female to referee in League 1 last season when she also became the first to touch-judge in Super League and also officiated at Magic Weekend.
Jones now hopes to go to the next level having joined the likes of fellow refs Chris Kendall, Liam Moore and Jack Smith under Phil Bentham’s command at the RFL’s Etihad Campus in Manchester. She said: “Super League is definitely a goal of mine. “I’ve still got a process to go through and I have to improve and perform. Championship could be my level this year maybe in terms of reffing and then touch judging in Super League but we’ll see.”.
