Rochelle Tamarua is a New Zealand rugby league referee. Born in Auckland, New Zealand, Tamarua is of Maori and Cook Island descent. Tamarua took up officiating rugby league in 2012 and within three years was a member of the New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) officials team for test matches between and . She was the first woman to referee in the Fox Premiership, the leading domestic rugby league competition of the

Auckland Rugby League The Auckland Rugby League (ARL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league in the Auckland Region of New Zealand. It is responsible for rugby league in the region, including both club and school rugby league. It began in 1910 when the fi ...

. In 2017 Tamarua took time away from refereeing to concentrate on running her own restaurant but returned to the sport in 2018. Continuing her career, she took a job with the Auckland Rugby League as the league's referees development officer. On the pitch she continued to referee domestic games and in 2022 took charge of several games in the National Rugby League (NRL) Women's National Championship in Australia. In August 2022 she became the first New Zealand woman to referee a match in the

NRL Women's Premiership The Telstra NRL Women's Premiership (NRLW) is Australia's national rugby league competition for women's rugby league in Australia, female players. The first season of the league began in September 2018 with four teams. The league is run by the ...

(NRLW). Tamarua was one of only two NZRL referees selected for the officials team at the

2021 Rugby League World Cup The 2021 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2021) was a collection of world cups in the sport of rugby league, held in England from 15 October to 19 November 2022. England won hosting rights for the competition on 27 October 2016. The bid received £2 ...

in England. Her first world cup appearance will be as a touch judge in the match between and on 18 October 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tamarua, Rochelle New Zealand rugby league referees People from Auckland New Zealand people of Māori descent New Zealand sportspeople of Cook Island descent Living people Year of birth missing (living people)