Football Federation SA Match Official Daniel Elder was named the Referee of the Tournament at the recent Football Federation Australia National Institute Challenge, held in Canberra from 2-9 December at the Australian Institute of Sport.

Having officiated in South Australia for 5 years, the 2013 David Gardiner Most Improved Level 2 Referee award winner was pleased with the personal result from the tournament.

“I had been to the NTC Challenge in 2010 and knew I would be one of the more experienced referees, so to finish higher in the rankings was an expectation I set for myself.

“To end up placing at the top and being awarded, I was happy and felt like I had met those expectations.”

Elder was appointed to the Final of the tournament which he found to be a personal highlight, officiating for what were the two best teams of the week and in front of a sizeable crowd.

The Tournament was the first occasion that used Additional Assistant Referees and Elder notes that they were highly beneficial, saying that they helped to control the match and particularly assisted with major decisions in the penalty area.

In addition, Elite Referee Coaches were appointed by Football Federation Australia to oversee and provide performance reviews on the referees.

“The coaching was great. All of the coaches were of a high standard and assisted with learning to work with the additional referees.

“I recognised areas of my game that needed to be fine tuned and the coaches really helped with that.”

Focussing on 2014, Elder is looking to be a strong part of the South Australian National Premier League.

“Performing well locally and being a part of the NPL is my main focus with refereeing at this stage, then looking towards A-League selection in the next couple of years.”