Referees Corner – Issue 14 – 2024/25 – Scarlets

A very warm welcome to another edition of referees corner for this URC quarter final against the Scarlets. A warm welcome to today’s game and to today’s match official Hollie Davidson and her team of Gianluca Gnecchi and Federico Vedovelli both from Italy. Scotland’s Andrew McMenemy is the TMO, Robbie Jenkinson is the 4th official, Max Weston is the 5th official. Hayley Whyte will be todays Stats Official and Dan Wallace the TimeKeeper.

In 2015 Hollie Davidson joined the SRU’s refereeing course, when a new course was held on Saturdays. Prior to this time the refereeing courses were held on Sunday, the same day as women’s professional rugby matches, thus making it impossible for women to train as referees. Davidson became Scottish Rugby Union’s first full time professional women’s referee in 2017. She refereed her first Pro14 fixture on 19 March 2021; a Munster v Benetton match, winning plaudits from the Munster Head Coach Johann van Graan. 

Davidson has refereed in the 2019 Women’s Six Nations Championship and in 2021 Davidson was chosen as one of the referees for the rugby 7’s tournament at the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics.

In 2023 Davidson was the only female member of the panel of referees for the 2023 World Rugby U20 Championship. She was also appointed to be an assistant referee in 3 full international warm-up matches for the 2023 Rugby World Cup. She was in charge of last week’s European Challenge Cup Final. She is a trailblazer and excellent referee and we’re looking forward to seeing her in action today.

Annual Dinner

The annual dinner of the Leinster Rugby Referees is the highlight of our somewhat limited social calendar and is always a great event. It took place a couple of weeks ago in Trinity College and was hosted by Leinster Rugby Referees President Martin Farrelly.

On the night our much anticipated annual awards are handed out. There are five main awards, one for lifetime achievement, one for referee of the year, another for refereeing performance of the year, one for the referee who progressed the most during the year and one for club of the year. 

The lifetime achievement award is named after Ham Lambert who passed away a few years ago. Ham was an Irish cricketer, rugby union player and later international rugby referee. By profession a veterinary surgeon, he was noted for being the first in Ireland to own a practice devoted to the care of companion animals. This year’s winner was Michael Carroll who has devoted a number of years to the association as a referee, assessor, coach and running our recruitment education. He follows a long line of winners including Peter Donnelly, Brendan Jenkinson, and Denis Collins to name a few. 

The award for referee of the year is named after Harold ‘Harry’ Ardill. Harry was instrumental in developing, recruiting and educating referees within Leinster. The referee of the year award accounts for both on field and off field efforts and contribution to the association. This year’s award went to long serving member Ian Thompson. 

The Club of the Year award is named after Terry Doyle, former President of the association and was presented by his wife Deirdre. The award was named after Terry in 2011 and the first recipients were Edenderry RFC. This year’s recipients of the Terry Doyle Memorial Award were first time winners Barnhall RFC, after an agonizing third place last year.

The Alain Rolland Referee Performance of the Year was won last year by Sam Holt. This year’s winner was Jack MacNeice. Jack has had a fantastic season. He has been growing as a referee since his promotion to the IRFU National Panel and has put in some excellent performances both in the domestic game and in the schools cup. He is one to look out for in the future. 

The last award of the night was the Denis Collins Perpetual Award for Progressive Referee. Presented by the great man himself, this award is for the referee who was seen to progress the most during the season, and has shown themselves to have put in time and effort into their own development. No one encouraged referees more in his time as referee administrator than Denis Collins. Last year Jack MacNeice won it and went on to have another great year. This year’s winner was Ethan Lyons, recently promoted to the IRFU National Panel and showing a great refereeing and work ethos. May he continue to excel. Well done Ethan.

With only a few weeks left in the season we are immensely proud of the work that has been put in by referees at all levels this season and look forward to moving onwards in the 2025/26 season.

Want to get involved? 

Referees provide a vital function in servicing all levels of the game. Refereeing is also a fantastic hobby and is increasingly becoming a genuine alternative to playing the game.

Whether you have aspirations to referee at the highest level or to referee locally, there is a place for you. There are excellent support structures in place to develop referees and a thriving social aspect too.

Feel free to make contact with the Leinster Rugby Referees at hayley.whyte@leinsterrugby.ie  If you are interested in becoming a referee get in contact with us through our Facebook, our website www.leinsterrugbyreferees.ie or through X @leinsterreferee.