Townsville Twins Page and Paula Malau-Aduli made history as the first identical twins to officiate at the national level in Australian football.
Their current work path, however, began as a way to disprove their skeptical sibling. They went on to exceed their wildest expectations by being selected for the first intake of the Football Queensland (FQ) Referee Academy in 2020 and the first Football Australia (FA) Referee Academy intake last year, which provided the girls with the knowledge and opportunities they needed to become elite referees around the world.
Paula told Football Queensland, “Our brother would always tell us that we didn’t have the personality to do it, but we wanted to prove him wrong, so our dad signed us up when we were 14 and it’s been so good, I’m honestly glad that we started doing it and just sort of kept going with it.’
“Honestly, I didn’t think we’d be any good when we first started, and every time we get to go further, do different things, become better, it all feels kind of surreal; just the further we go, the more like, how amazing it is,” Page remarked.
While attending the FQ Referee Academy, Paula and Page had access to a variety of learning opportunities in both Townsville and Brisbane. These experiences included attending Zoom sessions with experienced coaches, officiating in state competitions, and working with FIFA officials for the CommBank Matildas’ match against the New Zealand Football Ferns in Townsville in 2022.
In June 2023, Football Australia announced that the twins were among twelve promising match officials chosen from throughout the country to move to the next phase of their referee careers.
Page and Paula trained with coaches, sports scientists, and sports psychologists at the FA Referee Academy to develop the technical, physical, and social skills essential for professional football.
Paula made her A-League debut as an assistant referee for a match between Brisbane Roar and Canberra United, as reported by A-Leagues earlier this month. Her sister, Page, also served as the official E, indicating their combined arrival into the national level of officiating.
Reflecting on their experience as referees, both ladies expressed thanks to Townsville senior referees and coaches who supported them, as well as the community of match officials they met along the way to success.
Page stated, “Just being in Townsville growing up, I’m grateful for those guys who kind of paved the way for us and took us along the way; they were so deliberate in building us up, building the next generation with what they could teach us and pass on.”
“Sometimes being in the regional areas you don’t get some of the same opportunities that the metro areas get but with this knowledge and depth of insight from people in the academy, bringing it back to Townsville is going to be really cool because the whole Townsville refereeing group gets some of that knowledge as well which I think is really exciting.”
Page advises the next generation of regional referees aspiring to the A-League to persevere. “There’s such a great community of referees so lean on one another and build each other up because this is something that when you get higher, you take everyone with you.” “You’re in this together.”
Paula also advised, “Don’t be deterred, like we see people from different areas doing different things, I think it’s really cool that we can all start in different places but that doesn’t really exclude us from being able to make it; keep going as far as you can because it’s a really cool pathway to be on.”