Michael Leahy (far left) and James Hawksworth (second from left) ahead of officiating the bronze medal game at the Men’s World Championship
English officials have shown their skills on the world stage this summer with a host of officiating appointments across the Men’s World Championship and Women’s U21 Euros.
There were 19 appointments made across the two tournaments representing a hugely successful championships for our officials and assessors including multiple medal match selections.
A bumper group of on-field officials represented at the Men’s World Championship in San Diego in June; Mark Buckley, Peter Davidson, Thomas Hamey, James Hawksworth, Michael Leahy, Dean Mohareb, Andy Higginbottom, and Emma Jones were all selected as referees for the tournament along with Chi Fung (Dennis) Cheng and Chi Shing (Edwin) Leung who are based in England but represented Hong Kong, China.
In further off-field roles, Phil Pearson took up a role in the Leadership Team as Deputy Referee-in-Chief and Graham Blyth as Officials Administrator while Ian Ashworth and Gregg Irwin were part of the Referee Coaching team during the tournament.
For the bronze medal game between Australia and Haudenosaunee, James Hawksworth was appointed Head Referee with Michael Leahy as Chief Bench Official - Leahy also officiated on the opening game of the championship between USA and Canada.
Emma Jones was also a part of the first all-female on-field officiating crew on the Last 16 game between Haudenosaunee and Hong Kong, the first ever at a Men’s World event.
Following the Men’s Worlds, Annabel Campbell, Helen Mavin, and Brucie Morris were all selected to officiate at the Women’s U21 European Championship in Prague.
Helen and Annabel were both part of the officiating crew for the bronze medal match between Sweden and Wales, with Annabel also receiving the officials Heart of Lacrosse award for her steadfast, calm support of the umpiring team.
Paul Bibby and Wendy Reynolds were also part of the leadership group in Prague as Deputy Umpire-in-Chief and World Lacrosse Observer respectively.
England Lacrosse would like to congratulate all our officials and assessors who represented with distinction on the international stage this summer.
