Sports, exercise and recreation

How to become a sports umpire and referee

Official title: Sports umpire and referee

Also called: Sports official, Referee, Umpire, Timekeeper, Linesperson, Handicapper, Racecouse steward

Sports umpires and referees oversee athletic and sporting events. They make sure rules are followed and the proper decisions and penalties are applied.

Main tasks

Make decisions in sports games
Oversee athletic and sporting events
Enforce game rules
Apply proper penalties
Keep and announce game scores
Manage disagreements between athletes
Inspect facilities and equipment
Write incident reports

How to become one

You need experience and usually need to do training to become a sports umpire or referee. You usually don’t need specific NCEA levels for this job. Required: experience in the relevant sport. Other requirements: to complete a training course in the relevant sport; experience in similar work; a First Aid Certificate.

See the full Tahatū profile

Pay · Past change · AI and this job

Most common pay: $60,000 to $99,000 a year (median $76,000), a TEC estimate before tax.
Upper: $156,000 a year
TEC's pay figures are estimates only. TEC says they must not be used to set pay, in pay negotiations or in visa applications.
Change in the number of people doing this job between the 2018 and 2023 Censuses: Decrease (TEC). This is past change, not a forecast.
People employed in the group Sports Coaches, Instructors and Officials: 8,478 at the 2018 Census and 8,274 at the 2023 Census (-2.4%). Past change, not a forecast.
Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Who does this work

About 320 people did this job at the 2023 Census (TEC).
In the group Sports Coaches, Instructors and Officials, 54% of workers are female (sex at birth, 2023 Census).
Where people in the group Sports Coaches, Instructors and Officials work (2023 Census): Auckland 37.4%, Canterbury 13.8%, and Wellington 13%.

Questions people ask

How do I become a sports umpire and referee?

How much does a sports umpire and referee earn in New Zealand?

The Tertiary Education Commission estimates median pay at $76,000 a year, before tax. Most common pay is $60,000 to $99,000 a year.

Has the number of people working as a sports umpire and referee grown in New Zealand?

It has shrunk: TEC records a decrease in the number of people doing this job between the 2018 and 2023 Censuses. This is past change, not a forecast.

Will AI change the work of a sports umpire and referee?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

Tertiary Education Commission (Tahatu Career Navigator): Tahatu career ideas: descriptions, tasks, pay estimates, people employed, employment change 2018 to 2023, entry requirements, registration, interest scores (Site scrape 2026-10 (816 career ideas, sitemap lastmod 2026-10-01)), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
Stats NZ (via Figure.NZ): Census totals by topic for individuals 2013, 2018, 2023 (CEN23_TBT_004): employed by occupation, ANZSCO V1.3, summed to unit group (2023 Census (CEN23_TBT_004)), CC BY 4.0 (Stats NZ), CC BY 3.0 NZ (Figure.NZ), retrieved 4 October 2026
Stats NZ (via Figure.NZ): Census 2023: employed by regional council, occupation (ANZSCO V1.3 unit group) and sex at birth (2023 Census), CC BY 4.0 (Stats NZ), CC BY 3.0 NZ (Figure.NZ), retrieved 4 October 2026
International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

This content is sourced from the Tertiary Education Commission through the Tahatū Career Navigator website (www.tahatu.govt.nz) and used under the CC BY 4.0 licence. All or some of the information has been modified by Peernovo. TEC has not approved, endorsed or tested these modifications. TEC will not be held accountable for any errors within this content.

Qualification information from NZQA, used under CC BY 3.0 NZ.

This work is based on/includes Stats NZ's data which are licensed by Stats NZ for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. Census data via Figure.NZ.

Includes information from O*NET OnLine by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

Sources: Tertiary Education Commission, Tahatū Career Navigator (career ideas, pay estimates, entry requirements and study options, CC BY 4.0, modified by Peernovo); Stats NZ, 2023 Census (via Figure.NZ) and the National Occupation List (CC BY 4.0); NZQA qualification information (CC BY 3.0 NZ); O*NET interest scores (CC BY 4.0); ILO global generative AI exposure index (CC BY 4.0). Links between career ideas and ANZSCO groups, degree fields and broad job groups are Peernovo's.

These results are not official statistics. They have been created for research purposes from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), which is carefully managed by Stats NZ.

Graduate outcomes: these results are not official statistics. They have been created for research purposes from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), which is carefully managed by Stats NZ.

Updated 4 October 2026