Football Australia has appointed vastly experienced national refereeing assessor and instructor, Nathan Magill, as Head of Referees.
Magill has had extensive involvement in refereeing across multiple levels of Australian football, including as a member of the Football Australia Referees Committee and a leading referee instructor.
Magill has worked in 10 seasons of elite competitions and has included the appointment as match assessor to the last two A-League Men Grand Finals and previous couple of FFA Cup Finals.
As a member of the Football Australia Referees Committee, Magill has also played a key leadership role in developing strategies to support the transition towards a high-performance model for officiating.
Magill has also played an active role in international sports diplomacy representing Football Australia at seven FIFA Futuro Referee Technical Instructors courses, enhancing and further developing his technical knowledge and football experience at a national and international level and strengthening his connection with FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation.
His sports administration career has also seen him hold positions with Cricket Australia, as the National Development Manager, Premier Cricket and Pathways and previously with Football South Australia as the Competition and Refereeing Manager.
Football Australia Chief Executive Officer James Johnson viewed Magill as the perfect fit for Football Australia and the strategic direction the organisation was heading in.
“The opportunity to reinvigorate our refereeing department in line with our strategic vision and XI Principles for the future of Australian football, is the last piece of the jigsaw puzzle as we bring the unbundling of the professional leagues from Football Australia to life,” Johnson said.
“Nathan was the stand-out candidate from a highly competitive field and brings an outstanding set of skills, experience and high-performance knowledge and acumen to Football Australia.
“We believe Nathan is the ideal person to help us drive this new direction for Australian referees and help develop and implement innovative high-performance strategies for our elite referees so that they are able to perform at their optimum. This will be a focus of Football Australia and you can expect more announcements in the future.
“Nathan will work in close partnership with the Football Australia Referees Committee, the Australian Professional Leagues, our referees and all relevant stakeholders to enhance the culture of our referees across our professional leagues and Member Federations.”
Magill shared his excitement about commencing this new role with Football Australia.
“I am thrilled to be joining Football Australia as Head of Referees. Football has long been part of my life and I am looking forward to working with the team to enhance the profile and opportunities for Australian referees locally and abroad,” Magill said.
Magill will officially commence in his new role with Football Australia in early December. In the meantime, he will be actively involved in all aspects of the department.
