Officiating Pathway

“As part of Tennis Irelands new Officiating Pathway launching in June 2024, Tennis Ireland are conducting their first ever formal Referee qualifications to ensure and promote consistency at tournaments all across the country.

These will happen in every Province before the end of June and if successful in passing the course, you will be either be a Provincial or National Referee depending on experience.  Completion of this course is mandatory to be Tournament Referee at any T500 or above tournament in Ireland.

The pathway for Referees will be as follows :

1. Internal Competition Organiser – This is the entry level and will be a free online course which gives you the basics of Tournament Software and different formats of running internal competition. Once completed you can then move to :
2. Off court Umpires/Court Supervisors – This will be a free online course (similar to the Fergus Murphy course some may have attended in the past) and should be taken if you are assisting at any level of Tournament or Referee at T200 or below. After enough experience of running T200 or below tournaments, you can then apply for :
3. Provincial Referee Course – This will be an in person all day course with assessment and once completed, you will be able to be a Tournament Referee at T500 and T1000 tournaments. Assessments will include the Rules of Tennis, implementation of the Tennis Ireland Rules and Regulations, Tournament Software and Scheduling as well as dealing with on and off court scenarios that commonly arise. After enough experience of running T500 and T1000 tournaments, you can then apply for :
4. National Referee – This is the next level up from Provincial Referee and enables you to be Tournament Referee at National Events (T1500 and above), Interprovincial events as well as Assistant Referee at International events. There is no extra course to be completed, your work experience and record as a Provincial Referee is assessed. When you have achieved enough experience at National Events, you will be eligible to apply to the ITF to attend the White Badge Referee School which enables you to run International Events as an ITF Supervisor/Referee.
5. ITF White Badge Referee School – These schools are held by the ITF Officiating Team twice a year on average at various venues across Europe. The Officiating Team at Tennis Ireland will support your application to this school and help you with prep work before you attend. We currently only have 3 White Badge Referee’s and aim to increase this to help support our International Junior, Adult and Masters Competition plans in Ireland. You can then work towards advancing this qualification to Silver and Gold level.