Conflict analysis student on officiating Olympic rugby
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MA in Conflict Analysis and Management student Julianne Zussman is in Tokyo this month to officiate for Women’s Rugby Sevens at the Olympics.
She spoke to the Ottawa Citizen’s Patrick Johnston about her rugby and officiating career, and what it’s like to referee at the highest levels of her sport.
Here’s an excerpt:
“It’s an incredible opportunity. The Olympics is one of the only events that transcends sport, to be representing Canada, rugby, it’s an honour,” she said earlier this week over the phone from Victoria International Airport, minutes before setting off on her trans-Pacific adventure.
Zussman’s path to Tokyo includes a long and glittering career as a player, winning 44 caps and being selected for three world cups. She helped Canada win the silver medal in the 2014 Women’s Rugby World Cup, where she played as a full back and was named to the tournament “dream team.”
She retired from playing three years ago and was quickly tabbed by Rugby Canada as a candidate to be fast-tracked into the world of officiating, while working at the Canadian Sport Institute Pacific in Victoria. She’s currently studying conflict resolution at Royal Roads University while also consulting in sport management, leaning on her experience from CSI Pacific
[…]
“It’s important I fade into the background, I just support the players in telling their story,” she said of how she understands the referee’s role. There are referees, Wales’ Nigel Owens being the best example, who are very demonstrative in both physical and spoken presence. But that’s not her style, she said.
“Every referee has their own brand. As much as I love the referees that have the big personalities, that bring that to the spectacle, that’s just not me.”
That said, she also knows that she can play a role in recruiting more referees, something that Canadian rugby, even with its reasonably-sized playing base, has always struggled to do.
“If my goal is to fade into the background, that might be hard to recruit others into refereeing,” she admitted. “For myself it’s been really important that I go out into the community and work as a referee, both to prepare myself but also to raise the profile.”