2021 Officials of the Year Announced

Amber Church (Female Umpire of the Year), Simon Taylor (Male Umpire of the Year), and Jackie Tomlinson (Technical Official of the Year) have today been recognised as the top officials in New Zealand Hockey for 2021.

Amber Church

In a year without many international matches for our umpires, Amber was selected to umpire six games at the Tokyo Olympics, her second Olympics, including the semi-final match up between Argentina and India. She was also the reserve umpire for the women’s final.

She is a great team player who is well regarded by her peers and the players she officiates and is internationally reccognised as being one of the best umpires in the game. Amber is also known for her off field support of other umpires, helping to grow the skills of other people. She also recently umpired her 100th international match – a fantastic achievement.

Simon Taylor

Simon is another familiar name in the umpiring scene and is currenlty the highest capped international NZ umpire with 177 tests. He umpired six games at the Tokyo Olympics, his third, where he also umpired that bronze medal match of India vs Germany.

Known for his incredible work ethic and professional approach to umpiring, Simon is another highly regarded international umpire from New Zealand showing the depth of talent we have in the officiating space.

Jackie Tomlinson

Jackie has been recognised as the inaugural winner of the Technical Official of the Year. She officiated an incredible 17 matches at the Tokyo Olympics including the women’s bronze medal match and a men’s quarter final.

She is an expert in her field as our most experienced female technical offical, becoming the go to person for Hockey NZ’s tournament management system.

Jackie is also a member of the HNZ officials advisory group and is known to be very efficient and thorough with a vast knowledge of hockey rules and regulations.