Shearing judge Ronald King wins Maori referee award

Ronald King of Tiraumea was named the 2017 Maori Referee of the year.

Tiraumea farmer and shearing judge Ronald King of Tiraumea was named the 2017 Maori Referee of the Year at the awards dinner held at the Vodafone Events Centre in Auckland on December 2.

Ronald was one of three finalists. The other finalists were Glen Jackson (rugby), and Ben O'Keefe (rugby).

Ronald was nominated for his services to Shearing Sports NZ.

He has been a shearing judge for 13 years, and involved in the shearing industry for more than 30 years.

He started as a presser, then a shearer, becoming a shearing contractor and now a voluntary official.

Every year he travels around the country to officiate at these events, giving freely of his time and expertise.

A koha may be given by the event he is attending but judges are not paid and they donate their time and cover their own expenses.

Ronald has also had international experience when he was the New Zealand Shearing Teams manager/judge to the United Kingdom in June/July 2015.

Over a six-week period he travelled with his team and judged at the Royal Welsh Show, Corwen Shears, Cothi Shears and Lampeter Shears, all in Wales, Locherhead Shears in Scotland, Irish International Shears Belfast Ireland and the Lakeland Shears Cumbria and Yorkshire Show in England.

In January 2016 he was the manager and judge for the New Zealand shearing team test series against Wales.

The five test series was held at various shows in New Zealand.

Annually he judges from October through to February at the Poverty Bay A&P Show, Hawke's Bay A&P Show, Wairarapa Spring Shears, Wairoa A&P Show, Pahiatua Shears, Apiti Shears and Central Hawke's Bay A&P Show.

ACHIEVEMENTS:
-Judged at Alexandra NZ Merino Shearing and Woolhandling championships October 2016.
-Judged at Royal Canterbury A&P Show Nov 2016 (Final selection for NZ Team for World Championships).
-Judged at the World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships Invercargill — Feb 2017 (this event has just won the award for the Best international event at the NZ Event Awards).
-Judge and referee at the Golden Shears Shearing Championships Masterton-March 2017 and 2016, 2015.
-Judge at New Zealand Shearing Championships Te Kuiti-April 2017 and 2016, 2015, 2014.
-Judge and referee at Poverty Bay Show and Hawkes Bay Show October 2017.
-In September 2017, appointed as chief referee/judge for the Golden Shears (this is a permanent position). The Golden Shears is the biggest and most prestigious shearing competition in New Zealand.