Referees Corner – Issue 9 – 2025/26 – Scarlets

Welcome to another edition of Referees Corner. Now that the dust has settled on the Six Nations we are back to URC action in the Aviva Stadium.  Today’s match referee is Aimee Barrett-Theron. Aimee is a South African rugby union former player, and currently a referee on South Africa’s Premier Panel. She represented KwaZulu-Natal at domestic level between 2005 and 2008, and Western Province between 2009 and 2012. She also represented South Africa Women at Under-20 level in 2008, at senior level between 2008 and 2010 and for the sevens team between 2008 and 2012. Her records include appearing at the 2010 Women’s Rugby World Cup in England.

She then took up refereeing, joining the World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series circuit and being included on the refereeing panel for the 2016 Olympic Games.In December 2016, shortly before making her refereeing test debut for a 2017 World Cup qualifier between Japan and Fiji in Hong Kong, she was included on the South African Rugby Referees’ Association’s National B panel, becoming the first female referee in history to do so.The South African became the first female referee to reach forty tests, when she took charge of England vs New Zealand on 14 September 2024. Today is her first time refereeing Leinster. She is assisted by Peter Martin and Christopher Lough from the Ulster Society. John Carvill is the 4th official, Jonny Hollywood is the 5th official, Mark Gargan is the stats official, Quinton Immelman is the FPRO and Gordon Condell is the TK.

We had two great schools cup finals in the last week and a great replay earlier this week in Donnybrook. Leinster Rugby Referees provided full teams for both finals and our referees did an excellent job in all three games. 

The Senior Cup Final took place on St. Patricks Day, with a replay last Monday. Jack MacNeice was the referee with Max Weston and Ciaran O’Flynn assisting. Ezequiel Roldan Olivera and Keith Spendlove were the 4th and 5th officials and Dan Wallace was the Timing Official. 

Jack began refereeing after injury forced him to reconsider his playing career. He played rugby from minis with Clontarf before playing schools rugby in Belvedere College.  However, following surgery on both shoulders, his father, Brian, who has long been involved in refereeing and now works as a TMO, encouraged him to give refereeing a try. 

Jack has refereed across all divisions in the AIL and this season has worked as an assistant referee in the URC, EPCR, Rugby Europe and the U20 Six Nations. He has also had the opportunity to referee internationally, including at the U18 Six Nations Festival in Vichy, France, and at Craven Week in South Africa.

The Junior Cup Final took place in Energia Park on March 20th. Kevin Beakey was the man in the middle with Euan O’Riordan and Ross Shaughnessy. No 4 was Jonny Hollywood the No 5 was James Fegan. 

Kevin refereed his 1st game back in 2017, a few days after his 24th birthday. He was motivated to pick up the whistle after watching the referees on the Lions Summer Tour in NZ.  Not long after he signed up for the referee course with Leinster rugby and never looked back. 

9 years and over 200 games later Kevin now referees in the AIL. He travels to France next month to referee in the U18 6 Nations which is a hugely proud achievement for him and his family.

He loves school rugby and relishes the opportunity to be involved in any cup game as the Junior and Senior Cup provided so many happy memories for him as a player’

Well done to all involved in both finals. 

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 brendan.conroy@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.