Carney appointed as neutral referee for World Junior Championships

Australian referee Andrew Carney has been appointed as a neutral referee for the FINA Men’s World Junior Championships currently underway in Prague, Czech Republic.

Neutral referees are valuable to the FINA Technical Water Polo Committee as they do not have conflicting interests with any competing teams, meaning they can be appointed to any game.

With no Australian teams competing, the unique opportunity was presented to Carney, and he was quick to grab it with both hands.

“It was an honour to be selected, and a surprise at the same time,” Carney said.

“Being selected to attend tournaments as a referee with travelling teams is always a great privilege, but to be selected as a neutral referee is a whole other feeling.

“It’s been a whirlwind to get everything in place to even be able to travel internationally, but I’m looking forward to stepping out on the pool deck again,” he said.

Despite his years of experience refereeing across large scale tournaments, Carney says that this one will be extra special, given the lack of international competition in the last 18 months.

“I’m just looking forward to dusting off the whistle and refereeing water polo again,” Carney said.

“Water polo has continued throughout Europe and the northern hemisphere, so being in an international competition environment again will be a welcomed change of pace ahead of the upcoming summer season back home.

“I’ve been refereeing for longer than I’d like to admit, and it’s going to be great to be able to put the whites on, cards in my pockets and whistle around my neck again.

“It will be good to be back with my international referee colleagues and friends, and to be able to learn from them.

“Being able to bring back the most current directions at the Junior level, and to be able to feed that back to referees in Australia will be invaluable,” he said.

Carney was also thankful for the support he had received in making this opportunity possible.

“These kind of trips just aren’t possible without the support of Water Polo Australia, as well as Phil Bower, Don Cameron and John Whitehouse - all who have been great mentors over my career so far,” Carney said.

“I’d also like to thank my family for their unwavering support for me to pursue my passion for refereeing,” he said.