Soccer: Matt Hall named Northern NSW Football's inaugural Referee of the Year

But when his son, Jasper, decided to don the whistle, Hall felt compelled to at least give it a go.

"My eldest son wanted to be a referee," Hall said.

"At the time he was only 13, and so being the overprotective dad that I was at the time, I thought 'Oh I'll go sit on the sideline and watch'."

But, as is often the case in local sport, Hall was soon asked to fill in as a linesman at games, and subsequently thought "If I'm going to do that, then I probably should learn the laws of the game."

"I got into [refereeing] that way."

Thus began a career that, in just five years, has seen Hall become Northern NSW Football's first Referee of the Year.

More than just the quality of his work on the field, the award was presented to Hall for his efforts off it, which saw him become a mentor figure to the roughly 20 young referees who began their careers in 2022.

"I try to help out the local referees," Hall said.

"Just in a volunteer capacity to do a bit of extra fitness training and to make sure they've got somebody there if they've ever got questions."

Hall's guidance these young officials was evidently borne of his paternal instincts - he has three sons, all of whom are now referees themselves.

He also occasionally played for the Moore Creek Mountain Goats alongside Jasper this year, before he would pull on his official's shirt and whistle later in the day.

It is a heavy workload for the 47-year-old, who also maintains a full-time job as a chiropractor, but he refuses to miss out on the chance to spend more time with his kids.

"It's fantastic," Hall said.

"I've had the chance to play with my eldest son this year in a couple of games, and then we've done a few games refereeing together.

"My plan was to ideally try and have all four of us on one game this year. We got three, unfortunately we didn't get all four."

That will be yet another goal for Hall to tick off in 2023. Having taken up refereeing quite by accident just a handful of years ago, he has developed a passion not just for officiating, but helping others improve.

And given his passion for the job, this might just be the start for Hall.

"I just love running around and being part of it," he said.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: