A TOTAL of 24 referees and three performance reviewers attended the Namibia Rugby Referee Society's (NRRS) annual opening course at Okapuka Lodge over the weekend.

At the course, new law amendments that were introduced by the International Rugby Board last year were presented by Neville Heilbron of the South African Rugby Union's Referees Association.

The visit of Heilbron, who is the South African Rugby Union's manager of development and training of referees, was made possible by a development grant for referees that the Namibia Rugby Union received from the IRB.

The course was co-presented by Namibia's William Steenkamp, who attended the South African course from January 26 to February 1.

The NRRS has also started with a training programme for school children who are interested in becoming rugby referees and under the guidance of Faan Oosthuizen it has made a successful start.

Oosthuizen started the programme's planning in December 2012 and invitations were sent to schools throughout Namibia to identify youngsters who are interested in becoming referees.

The response in Windhoek has been very positive with more than 60 children joining the programme and since then Oosthuizen has already started with the programme in Windhoek.

Oosthuizen will start the programme for schools based outside Windhoek next week and schools that are interested in joining the programme should contact him.

The NRRS will soon also present IRB Level I courses for people who would like to become rugby referees. These courses will be presented by William Steenkamp or Jacky Husselman.