Belinda Sleeman
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Belinda Sharpe (née Sleeman) is an Australian rugby league referee and former journalist, and is the first woman to referee a first-grade match in the
National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...
(NRL). Sharpe was born and grew up in
Rockhampton, Queensland Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. In the , the population of Rockhampton was 79,293. A common nickname for Rockhampton is "Rocky", and the demonym of Rockhampton is Rockhamptonite. The Scottish- ...
, where she worked as a sports reporter at ''
The Morning Bulletin ''The Morning Bulletin'' is an online newspaper servicing the city of Rockhampton and the surrounding areas of Central Queensland, Australia. From 1861 to 2020, ''The Morning Bulletin'' was published as a print edition, before then becoming a ...
''. She took up officiating in rugby league when she was 18. The first match Sharpe ever refereed was an under-8's fixture at Gracemere. After officiating at various levels of rugby league in Queensland, Sharpe became the first women to be an official at an NRL game when she was one of the
touch judges A touch judge is an official who monitors the touch-line in a rugby union or rugby league game and raises a flag if the ball (or player carrying it) goes into touch. Touch judges also stand behind the posts to confirm that a goal has been scored fol ...
for the match between
Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers is an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West of Sydney and South Western Sydney. The Tigers have competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since being formed at the end of the 1999 N ...
and
Cronulla Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the Sutherland Shire of Southern Sydney, New South Wales. Cronulla compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby league compet ...
in the last round of the
2014 NRL season The 2014 NRL season was the 107th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 17th season of the National Rugby League in Australia and New Zealand. The season started in New Zealand, for the Auckland Nines, replacing the Rugby Leagu ...
. At the start of the
2019 season Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...
, Sharpe was one of two women, the other being Kasey Badger, to be given full-time referee contracts by the NRL. She took charge of her first match involving an NRL team when she was one of the two match referees in
Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...
' pre-season game against Wynnum Manly. In her 100th match as an NRL official, Sharpe became the first woman to referee a full NRL match in the round 18 game between Brisbane Broncos and
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilitated by ...
on 18 July 2019 at
Suncorp Stadium Brisbane Stadium (Lang Park), currently known as Suncorp Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the suburb of Milton, Queensland, Milton, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Nicknamed The Cauldron, it is a three-tiered rect ...
alongside
Ben Cummins Ben Cummins is an Australian former rugby league referee, who last officiated in the National Rugby League. Background Cummins was born in Cairns, Queensland. He moved to Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, when he was four years of age. ...
. Sharpe has also refereed the
2019 Women's State of Origin Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...
and has been a touch judge in several international games including the
2017 Rugby League World Cup The 2017 Rugby League World Cup was the fifteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup tournament and took place in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea between 27 October and 2 December 2017. The tournament featured the national teams ...
tournament and the Tonga v Fiji test match in 2017. In 2022, Sharpe was appointed as the main referee for the Women's Rugby League World Cup final between New Zealand and Australia. On 1 September 2023, Sharpe became the first woman to referee an NRL match under the single referee system when she controlled the game between Manly Sea Eagles and West Tigers.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharpe, Belinda Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Rockhampton Australian rugby league referees National Rugby League referees Rugby League World Cup referees Australian sports journalists Women sports journalists Australian women referees and umpires