New Appointment for Hoffman
In a joint venture between the Australian Rugby Union and Queensland Rugby, Rohan Hoffman has been appointed the match officials development manager for Queensland.
Hoffman, who turned 42 last January, is a Queenslander, born in Brisbane and educated at Marist Brothers Ashgrove, the same school that John Eales went to and played for Queensland Schools, Under-19 and Under-21. He played for the Brothers club after school and then went to Portugal. He played 30 times for Portugal and represented the country at two World Cup Sevens tournaments. He married in Portugal and became a Portuguese citizen.
His playing days over, Hoffman took up refereeing and refereed four Test matches, starting with Monaco vs Bosnia Herzegovina in 2008. On his return to Brisbane, he continued refereeing and in 2013 became a Super Rugby referee.
This weekend he will referee the first National Rugby Cup Final between Brisbane City and Perth Spirit at the Ballymore ground in Brisbane.
In his new role Hoffman, an English teacher by profession, will help with the implementation of the Australian Rugby Union's match officials strategy in Queensland, responsible for delivering the match official education programme, increasing refereeing numbers and developing merging refereeing talent.
Hoffman will continue to referee Super Rugby.
His immediate boss, Scott Young, said: “Rohan brings a wealth of experience to the role having both played and refereed at the highest level. He is a great example of a former player that has taken up the whistle and he now has the opportunity to give back to the game in this role.”
