Stephen Pike
Sport: Touch football referee
Year Inducted: 2006
Stephen started touch football refereeing in 1988 and became a NSW State referee in 1991, a National referee in 1992 and an International referee in 1993 at the age of twenty three (which at the time was the youngest international referee in history). He was awarded his Level 6 referee's badge that same year. This badge can only be awarded by the National Referees' Panel at the National Championships and is the highest badge level a referee can achieve in Australian touch football.
During his sixteen year representative career from 1988 to 2003, Stephen refereed at over 50 NSW and ACT tournaments, two State of Origin tournaments between NSW and Queensland, ten National Championships, five Trans-Tasman Test Series between Australia and New Zealand and three World Cups.
Stephen initially retired from representative refereeing in 2003, ranked as the number two referee in the world. That same year, he was invited to South Africa to assist their national teams prepare for the World Cup and to help coach their referees. He was then appointed as their National Director of Referees for a number of years where he was responsible for the ongoing development and coaching of referees within South Africa.
In 2007, Stephen was the first referee inducted into the NSW Touch Hall of Fame, and in that same year he was inducted into the Touch Football Australia Hall of Fame, only the second referee given that honour. In 2020, Stephen was awarded Life Membership of the Wagga Wagga Touch Association.
Widely acknowledged as one of the best the game had produced, his rapport with players made his control of the game effortless and respected.
Touch Football Australia Hall of Fame, 2007
Seventeen years after retiring from representative touch football, Stephen returned in 2020 to referee at representative tournaments with his children Emily and Samuel. He subsequently attended three more NSW State Championships, a State of Origin tournament and three more National Championships where he was ranked the number one masters referee in Australia. In 2024, he travelled to England to referee at his fourth World Cup where he was ranked the number two masters referee in the world. In recognition of this outstanding achievement, he was awarded the Federation of International Touch’s prestigious gold badge which is reserved for only the elite international referees. Injury has forced Stephen back into representative retirement and leaves him with a total of 66 international games over his career.
Stephen continues to referee in Wagga Wagga and helps in the development of local referees. Since he started refereeing in 1988, Stephen has refereed over 6,000 games of touch football at park level through to international level.
Stephen also refereed rugby league for fourteen years, with most of the games in first grade. He was also appointed to numerous representative rugby league matches.