Americas match officials complete L2 accreditation

• In 2025 IRL launched the most expansive investment into grassroots game development in its history.
• The technical education project objective is to ensure that every IRL member nation is able to produce its own coaches and match officials, through accredited local educators, and its own educators, through accredited local tutors, ensuring self-sufficiency, local leadership development and greater global capacity.
• The IRL's system focuses heavily on continuing technical development between courses, to ensure that acquired knowledge turns into maturing understanding of the game, higher technical standards and an authentically developed sport.
• The project is underpinned by state of the art e-learning management systems and coaching resources

Match Officials capacity in the Americas region has received a shot in the arm after Kemoy Whyte (Jamaica) and Cody Kuxman (USA) both recently became accredited IRL Level 2 Match Officials having completed their CATO+ assignments.

CATO stands for Consolidation-Application-Team/training-Observation and is the post-course work that IRL technical education candidates undertake after attending an in-person course, turning their certification into accreditation. CATO+ is linked to the Level 2 course.

Both are now eligible to progress to becoming Level 1 Educators, allowing them to deliver IRL’s entry level qualification, giving their respective Federations capacity to deliver as well as both being available for deployment in the region and potentially globally for IRL.

As part of IRL’s strategic cultivation of technical leaders around the world, Whyte and Kuxmann were invited to attend the European Rugby League U19s Championship which took place in France in July, where their week long deployment saw them take part as on-field officials in the event where they received expert tuition and guidance from FFRXIII head of match officials Stephane Vincent and IRL Tutor Steve Hogan, with Hogan also delivering an IRL Level 2 Match Officials course as part of the off-field learning.

“The opportunity to attend the European U19 championships was a great experience,” said Kuxmann. “The group of officials and coaches were really able to build and develop as a team. Having the ability to complete CATO+ and re-establish the educator criteria with the changes to the course and system will only allow for the growth and development of officials in the Americas. We currently have three courses tentatively scheduled for the 2027 season.”

The experience builds on the international experiences both have had, with Kuxmann having officiated several international clashes in the Americas region, whilst Whyte was appointed to the IRL Women’s Rugby League World Series in 2025.

“France was an extraordinary experience,” enthused Whyte. “Highlights were the incredible food, the scenery, and the rich culture, but of course the rugby league! ​In many ways, the lessons in France mirror what we face every time we step onto the field, officiating requires us to step into dynamic, high-stakes environments, maintain absolute composure, and manage people effectively regardless of the noise around us.

“It’s one thing to gain experience from field work but it’s another to have a structured, data-driven framework that elevates how you process that experience. CATO+ has completely redefined my approach to officiating in three key ways: sharpened decision making, consistency and accountability and accelerated development. The insights and structured feedback loop from CATO+ allows for a concrete opportunity for growth rather than just another game on the schedule.”

Boosting Educator capacity in the Americas region is a key aim of IRL’s technical education programme.

“Part of our vision over the next four years is to ensure that each IRL region - Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe and Middle East & Africa - has at least four Level 2 Tutors in each of the Coaching and Match Officials strands,” added David Butler, IRL’s head of membership & competition. “Having Cody and Kemoy to add to our existing capacity in the region keeps us on target to delivering that objective in the region. We have several interventions in the Americas region planned over the next twelve months which will see further steps towards this objective made.”