Tara Jones enjoyed a glittering playing career with St Helens and England but it is as a referee she is making rugby league history.
The 28-year-old created headlines last year by becoming the first female to take charge of a senior men’s fixture when she oversaw a League One encounter between Oldham and Cornwall.
At the time she was combining officiating with playing and a regular job but, as the refereeing progressed, it was clear a new career path was opening up for Saints women’s record appearance-maker.
🗞️ Saints’ record appearance maker Tara Jones will leave the club to become a full-time match official in 2025…
— St.Helens Women (@saints1890women) October 7, 2024
❤️ Thanks for everything TJ and good luck in the future!#COYS
In the autumn she announced her retirement to focus entirely on that opportunity, taking up a full-time position on the Rugby Football League’s match officials panel.
With age clearly on her side, there are high hopes she can advance to overseeing games in the men’s Betfred Super League – in which she has already made a number of appearances as a touch judge – and showpiece events such as finals and internationals.
Yet while that is an obvious goal for any aspiring referee, being a trailblazer for women in the game is as much of a source of motivation for Jones.
“I want to pave the way for other females within this great sport,” Jones told the PA news agency.
“There are opportunities, no matter who you are. If I can show other girls that if, for whatever reason you drop out of playing or playing is not for you, that there is another avenue.
“Part of my role is that I’m the women and girls match official ambassador and, if I can make a difference and even just get one more female into officiating, then that’s a step in the right direction.”
Jones was born in Germany when her father, an enthusiast of both codes of rugby, was stationed there with the army but spent a lot of her formative years in the league hotbed of Warrington.
She played the game in boys teams until she reached the age of 12 and was told that was no longer allowed.
With few girls teams around, she undertook her first refereeing course. She did return to playing, eventually finding her way to Merseyside-based Thatto Heath and then St Helens after the formation of Super League in 2017.
Yet a seed had been planted and a burgeoning refereeing career ran in tandem until, with many playing goals fulfilled, came a crunch decision.
“It was a really, really difficult choice to make,” said Jones, who also stood down from her role as a sports coach and pupil support at Chaigeley special school in Warrington.
“I had lots and lots of things to consider but, ultimately, I knew that going forward and for my own progression, that this was something that was always my ambition to do.
“From the age of 12, when I’d been on the course, I’ve had that drive and had that motivation to succeed and make it into something big, and now I’ve done that.”
The achievements on the playing field were plentiful. Jones was the hooker as Saints won a Super League title, two League Leaders’ Shields and four Challenge Cups, two at Wembley. She also earned 14 England caps and played in the 2022 World Cup semi-finals.
She said: “I’m really glad that I carried on playing because those experiences were just phenomenal but I’ve ticked those things off now and I’ve done that and I’ve got nothing left behind.
“People presume now that I’m full-time I’ll automatically be refereeing Super League but there’s still hard work to do and I need to prove myself.
“Hopefully one day I will but I want it to be based on the fact that I’m good enough, not necessarily because I’m female.”
