{"id":254894,"date":"2025-11-01T06:36:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T06:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/254894\/"},"modified":"2025-11-01T06:36:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-01T06:36:11","slug":"from-the-rugby-fields-to-the-cricket-fields","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/254894\/","title":{"rendered":"From the rugby fields to the cricket fields"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Sam Nicholson\u2019s Saturdays during the winter are on the rugby field as a referee and in the summer on the cricket fields. Photos: DEBBIE FAHEY|DAKOTA BROWN\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You\u2019ll be hard-pressed if you are searching for a free Saturday in Sam Nicholson\u2019s diary.<\/p>\n

For half of the year, you\u2019ll find him with a whistle in hand on Southland\u2019s rugby fields as a referee. <\/p>\n

The other half, Nicholson, can be spotted bowling his off-spinners for Invercargill-Old Boys, or the Southland Hawke Cup cricket team.<\/p>\n

Nicholson wouldn\u2019t have it any other way. He\u2019s more than happy to have his Saturdays tied up with sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is busy, but I enjoy it. Being a referee, I wouldn\u2019t say it is lonely, but it is an individual kind of thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like being part of a team, so this summer cricket is an opportunity for me to go out there – I\u2019m pretty competitive – so go out there and try and win. <\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, with refereeing, there is not much winning; you just go out there and officiate it,\u201d Nicholson told The Tribune.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a big year for Nicholson on many fronts.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, he brought up 100 senior games as a Southland rugby referee. On Saturday, Nicholson added the 100-game milestone with the Invercargill-Old Boys Cricket Club to his list of accomplishments.<\/p>\n

For good measure, there was a wedding chucked in in April to make 2025 a very special one.<\/p>\n

Nicholson\u2019s next sporting target is getting his baggy Southland cricket cap, which is handed out to players who have played ten Hawke Cup fixtures. The 27-year-old currently sits on eight games.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Sam Nicholson refereeing the 2025 Galbraith Shield final. Photo: DEBBIE FAHEY<\/p>\n

Sam Nicholson\u2019s first taste of senior cricket can be traced back 11 years ago, when he played for the Southland Boys\u2019 High School first XI as a 16-year-old.<\/p>\n

It was at Queens Park in his final year at Southland Boys\u2019 when the seed was sewn for his days at Invercargill-Old Boys.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe played [against Invercargill-Old Boys] at Queens Park one round-robin, and I was talking to Lewis Risk at square-leg, and I said I would be keen to play here, and the next day I got a message from Jamie May.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rest is history.<\/p>\n

Nicholson recalls there being a bit of a changing of the guard in his early days at the club, with a number of older players moving on.<\/p>\n

It was a struggle for player numbers, and Nicholson, along with Liam McWilliam, played key roles in helping keep the club going.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were on the phone, messaging and ringing and trying to get a hold of anyone to fill in in those early years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Invercargill-Old Boys managed to pick up some players from Southland Boys\u2019 High School, and the outlook became brighter.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom there, we built a culture that people wanted to be part of and enjoy each other\u2019s company. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what makes it enjoyable every week, coming and playing cricket with your mates that you spend eight or 10 hours a day with on a Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nicholson\u2019s role has extended beyond just his on-field contributions as captain, batsman, and bowler. He has also taken on the club treasurer duties, helping ensure the money is rustled up to keep the club running.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Sam Nicholson in action for Invercargill-Old Boys in Southland club cricket. Photo: DAKOTA BROWN.<\/p>\n

Sam Nicholson\u2019s introduction to rugby refereeing started young.<\/p>\n

His dad, Steve, is a long-time Southland rugby referee with 20-plus years next to his name.<\/p>\n

At just 11 years old, Sam followed in his dad\u2019s footsteps, and by the time he was 16 he gave up playing and things started to get more serious on the refereeing front.<\/p>\n

By 18, he was refereeing premier club games and has now well and truly established himself as one of the province\u2019s leading referees.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty special having Dad around. He is what got me into it, so I love going out there and doing it for him, and he loves seeing me succeed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been pretty lucky with the appointments, with dad being appointed to the division two games, and then he would come over and AR for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the last two years, I\u2019ve had the luxury of having dad as an assistant on the Galbraith Shield finals, which was a bucket list thing for me and him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Sam Nicholson and dad Steve Nicholson during the 2025 Galbraith Shield club rugby final at Rugby Park. Photo: DEBBIE FAHEY<\/p>\n

Nicholson remains determined to take the next step, which would be refereeing at Heartland Championship level and then in the NPC.<\/p>\n

There were some golden opportunities to advance himself on the national stage that were taken away from him during the Covid period.<\/p>\n

He was set to referee a New Zealand Secondary Schools game before that was canned, and he was also selected to referee at the national Top Four schools finals, but that also did not go ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m only 27, so in refereeing terms I\u2019ve done a lot at a young age, and I still really love it and enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve stripped it right back and the results are coming. I lost a bit of weight this year, I think I\u2019ve lost about 10kgs, and I\u2019ve got my bronco score up, my fitness score, my law exam, all of those pieces they look at.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, though, he\u2019s got some wickets to take and runs to make on the cricket field.<\/p>\n

Nicholson\u2019s Invercargill-Old Boys started the 2025-2026 Southland summer of cricket in positive fashion on Saturday with a victory over Southland Boys\u2019 High School.<\/p>\n

It was set up by a century by Brayden Thomas, his first century for Invercargill-Old Boys.<\/p>\n

Batting first, openers Thomas (107) and Liam McWilliam (55) piled on the runs as Invercargill-Old Boys posted 272 for six from its 40 overs.<\/p>\n

In reply, the pupils scored 174 for nine with Sam Smaill and Jack Claridge top-scoring with 33 runs apiece.<\/p>\n

In other games, Waikokoi grabbed a thrilling one-wicket win over Appleby while Marist picked up a five-wicket win against Central-Western.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sam Nicholson\u2019s Saturdays during the winter are on the rugby field as a referee and in the summer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-254894","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}