Long-time champion of New Zealand referees Ken Wallace has been recognised for his 55 years of service to the game.
Wallace has been presented with a special long-service award at a recent awards night for northern referees, following his retirement as NZ Football’s Referee Development Manager last year.
He was presented with his award by NRF chief executive Laura Menzies at the function held at the Remuera Club, Auckland.

More about Ken Wallace
Wallace was made a Life Member of Auckland Football in 2018. Here’s an interview in which he explains his career in helping get the best from referees and refereeing.
Menzies: ‘We wouldn’t have a game without you’
Northern referees recently held award nights in Northland and in Auckland, celebrating the achievements and service of match officials.
NRF’s Laura Menzies thanked the officials for their service, saying:
“I want to thank you for your time in the middle and dedication throughout this long season.
“The amount of games our officials ran is amazing, and with COVID-related issues reducing the number of people we could call on, I’m really grateful to those who stepped up to take higher grade matches than usual.
“At the local and regional level, your skills and work help make our goal to deliver quality competitions possible — it’s been a huge effort, and I know our players appreciate your mahi.
“As always, we wouldn’t have a game without you.”
2022 Referees’ Awards
Dedication to Refeering: Mike Badham (Northland)
Most Improved Referee: Aaron Hooper (Northland)
Personality of the Year: Darren Johnston (Northland)
Most Improved First Year Referee: Christian Reynolds (Northland)
Mike Stather Memorial Trophy: Darren Mason (Northland)
Northland RDO Award: Darren Johnston (Northland)
Rudy Hoffman Award | Referee that Embodies the ‘Spirit’ of NRF Referees: Roberto Ferri
Stephen Fletcher Memorial Award | Referee with the Best Development Growth beyond their First Year: Sam Clement
Ian Hiscox Award | Merit Award selected by Ian Hiscox: Trevor Bradford
Alexandria Wendy MacLennan Award | Most Promising New Referee: Dan Tyler
Forrest Cup | Best First Year Referee: Kate Lambert, Boaz Peach
Page Cup | Most Improved Community Official: Steven Francis
Lynn Fox Award | Most Improved Assistant Referee: Pranil Gordhan
Ken Wallace Award | Most Improved Referee: Kirk Davis
Schipper Family Award | Best Level 1, 2, 3 Referee: Beth Rattray
Lynn & Neil Fox Award | Best Assistant Referee: Hayden Tutbury
Rugg Rosebowl Award | Professionalism within Refereeing, on and off the field: Luke Gardner
Paul Smith Award | Merit Award selected by Paul Smith: Trevor Bradford
Solarix Award | Best Level 4, 5 Referee: Luke Gardner
REO Cup | Voluntary support to the Referee Education Officers: Riley Greenbury
The Andrew ‘Pop’ Menzies Award | Referees’ Assessor of the Year: Paul Smith
Brian Precious Memorial Trophy | Referees’ Assistant Referee of the Year: Stephen Merriman
The Graham West Trophy | Referee’s Referee of the Year: Allan Wilson
Service awards
Fifty-five-year service award
Ken Wallace
Forty-year service awards
Ian Hiscox, Paul Smith
Thirty-five year service award
Trevor Bradford
Thirty-year service awards
Warren Bunn (Northland), Allan Cooper (Northland), Stephanie Brown, Chris Kerr, Perry Tompsett, Tony Daniels
Twenty-five year service awards
Paul McMath, John McCoskrie, Malcolm Hansen
Twenty-year service awards
Craig Crawford (Northland), Jeff Dyer (Northland), Peter Thorne (Northland), Glen Lochrie, Nick Waldron, Campbell Waugh
Fifteen-year service awards
Mike Badham (Northland), Nick Fowler (Northland), Martin Huang, Colin Margison, Mark Perry, Chris Casey, Derek Dow, Khalid El Gana, Len Gattsche, Neil Tobin, Dave Brooke, Wandyck Freitas, Martin Neale, Kevin Turnock, Hayden Tutbury, Paul Maguiness
Ten-year service awards
Les Moorhouse (Northland), Santiago Vega, Maz Batoor, Jim Curwen, Glenn Horne. Antonio Karam, Mark Moffatt, Stephen Parker, Jeremy Ferguson, John Kimber, Peter Lamb, Nick Smallwood, Tony Wall, Philip Parkes, Chris Scott, Charlie Tseng, Daniel King, Roberto Ferri, Mark Fleming, Nick Kang, John Keen, Debbie Stevens, Ron van Zuilen, Fidel Jaary, Kristian Klette, Pradeep Kumar, Stephen Merriman, Scott Moffat, Sam Woo, Allan Wilson, Alec Couchman
Five-year service awards
Andrew Bax (Northland), Mike Jones (Northland), Darren Johnston (Northland), Don McDonald-Spice (Northland), Ben McInnes (Northland), Daniel Owens (Northland), Sean White (Northland), Duane Sommerville, Philip Kelleway, Eric YuReza, Al Rabea, Bridget Baker, Sinan Chalabi, Brandon Day, Tom Day, Yunjie Diao, Phil Knight, Jamie Mew, Chris Trent, Tanvir Bhamji, Binesh Chand, Bruce Coombes, Aaron Day, Pranil Gordhan, Bryce Hall, Grant Muir, Beth Rattray, Alan Topham, Tony Westmoreland, Derek Anderson, Karl Barry, Wayne Barry, Peter Farrelly, David Cornelius, Cameron Dickson-Hards, Riley Greenbury, Lee Juno, Malcolm King, James Logan, Benjamin Matthews, Struan Millward, Avi Narayan, Daniel Neville, Niki Phillips, William Roberts, Clint van Eyssen, Paul Whitehead, Andy Ballard, Kirk Davis, Luke Gardner, Grant Lester, Kelvin Lewis, Xiang Li (Rem), Shawn Liu, Gary McIsaac, Zachariah Turner, Samuel Clement, Kirsty Whiting, David Gates, Liam Govind, Glen McLeod, David Pal, Johnathon Smith, Dale Webster, Daniel Bidwell, Pravin Kumar, Adam Clancey, Logan Cook, Ashley Wilson, Zachary White, Kevin Stoltenkamp, Ed Ellington, Michael McGranaghan
Acknowledgement
Thanks to Northern Region Football for information in this story >>>>>