However, Auckland Rugby League Referees Association secretary Steve Jelicich said bad behaviour from parents was generally not a problem.
"The Auckland Rugby League have got a policy of ground behaviour called 'be a sport' and that's having a big effect on keeping the sidelines quiet.
"We get the odd one or two, but generally speaking [it's fine]. We had some visiting referees from Sydney over the other week and they coudn't believe how well behaved the crowds were towards our officials."
Wellington rugby referees chairman Ian Dallas agreed aggressive spectators were not putting young Kiwi refs off.
"I know that it does happen, we do have instances of that for sure," he said. "But I haven't had anyone say 'I left because of the abuse'."
Dallas said he had fielded only two complaints from referees upset about aggression from the sidelines and in both cases he had been able to unofficially deal with the issue by talking to the teams involved.
New Zealand Football referee development manager Ken Wallace said instances of referee abuse were low in football too.
"New Zealand Football conduct an annual exit survey of our referees, and from the nearly 1000 referees at the various youth and senior levels in 2014, 82 are no longer refereeing in 2015. Only one of those indicated abuse was a factor in their decision while returning to play or coach, health or work commitments were the most common reasons."
Wallace said referees were well supported at all levels and regular, organised coaching programmes were in place in every centre.
On top of that, each federation in New Zealand had organised or was developing a mentoring scheme that matched an experienced referee with one who had just started, he said.
In 2013, several intervention campaigns were launched by sports authorities to combat fans at kids' sports games attacking referees, as well as players and coaches, physically or verbally, at rugby and football matches.
