Wigan nine-year-old made honorary member of local Referees Society as he dreams of becoming a Super League official

A nine-year-old from Wigan has been made an honorary member of the local Rugby League Referees Society due to his passion for the role.
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Oscar Hutchinson, who is a Wigan Warriors fan, has the ambition of becoming a Super League official when he is older.

Refereeing has helped him regain confidence after he was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease at the end of last year.

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Oscar’s mum Emma said: “He’s not been well for two-and-half years.

Oscar Hutchinson is passionate about becoming a refereeOscar Hutchinson is passionate about becoming a referee
Oscar Hutchinson is passionate about becoming a referee

“We found out a week after Christmas he had Crohn’s, which was quite aggressive.

“For nine weeks he was tube fed, so he couldn’t train or play, and lost a lot of his confidence.

“He would go in the back garden and pretend to referee a game.

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“When his older brother is playing for the U11s, he very often runs the line every single match, which is a massive help to the coaches.

“The referee side of things has really helped him because he has still been able to do something on his own.

“As much as he wants to play rugby, refereeing is his priority, he’d choose that over the two because he absolutely loves it.

“It was great to see his dreams come alive at the Referees Society, because it’s the first step of what he wants to do. Everyone really believes in him, so seeing that makes me dead proud.

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“I’m also dreading when he goes out in the middle of the pitch and all the fans are shouting because he’s made the wrong call.

“It all comes back to Ben Thaler being his favourite referee. He was invited over to their training regularly when he was five, and was in the middle for a game they played.

“He would always watch the referee closely to learn the signals. He was hooked, he would even review matches on his iPad to learn further after games, and has been invited by Sky to see how the video ref stuff worked.

“Ben said he’d be one of the best Super League referees if he kept going.”

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Rob Willis, who is the development officer for Wigan Referees Society, says he was more than happy to help Oscar.

“We got him down to a meeting when some of the Super League officials were there,” he added.

“We got a slide up about him, and he was close to tears when he saw it. We then got Liam Moore to have a photograph with him.

“With him only being nine-years-old, he’s a bit young to be a match official, but we’re going to get him on a course where he will hopefully progress.

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“I’m going to push to get him involved, because he deserves it as he just wants to learn.

“When he sees you, he always comes across to ask questions. His passion is unbelievable, I’ve never seen so much in a young official ever. It’s just incredible.

“He doesn’t get anything for being a touch judge, he’s always making sure his mum has asked me. It’s just great for the game.

“His older brother Toby plays, and so does his twin sister Phoebe, but I’m convinced he’ll go down a different path and go straight to be an official.”

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