In the event of the non-appearance of the appointed referee, the appointed senior assistant referee shall take charge and a substitute assistant referee appointed by the competing teams. In cases where there are no officially appointed match officials in attendance, the clubs shall agree upon a referee. An individual thus agreed upon shall, for that competition match, have the full powers, status and authority of a registered referee.

Individuals under the age of 16 must not participate either as a referee or assistant referee in any open age competition match. In youth competitions, referees under the age of 16 are only eligible to officiate in competitions where the players’ age band is at least one year younger than the age of the referee. e.g. a 15-year-old referee may only referee in competitions where the age banding is 14 or younger.