Stuart Dickinson
Stuart Dickinson (born 19 July 1968) is a former Australian rugby referee. He made his international refereeing debut in 1997 in a Rugby World Cup qualifier between Tahiti and the Papua New Guinea. He is Australia's top rugby union referee.[citation needed]
A year later he was the referee for the international between Wales and South Africa at Wembley. He was a referee at the 1999 Rugby World Cup in Wales, the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia and the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France. He is Australia's most-capped referee and the only Australian referee to appear at three World Cups. He has recently been confirmed as part of the eight-man core panel of referees for the 2010 Super Rugby.
Dickinson commenced refereeing at the age of 12, whilst also playing fly-half and fullback for Epping Boys High School. He has been employed full time with the ARU since 1996. Prior to 1996, he worked as a site manager for LinFox, a transport company as well as with the NSW Police Force. He currently resides in Sydney with his wife and three children.
Dickinson was publicly criticised by IRB referees manager Paddy O'Brien in 2009 for his refereeing of the scrums in the Italy v. New Zealand Test Match at the San Siro Stadium in Milan on 14 November 2009. O'Brien stated that Dickinson had got it "completely wrong", believing the Italian tight-head prop, Martin Castrogiovanni was boring in on his opposite. In 2010, Dickinson was rated in the Top 3 SANZAR Referees after being appointed to the Super Rugby semi-final in Soweto.
He announced his retirement from refereeing on 27 September 2011.[1]
Representative Football
Dickinson has refereed in many world rugby competitions. These include:
- NSW Tooheys New Shute Shield (NSW Premiership Club Rugby First Grade, Australia)
- Super 12/14/15
- International Friendlies
- Tri Nations
- Six Nations
- The Rugby World Cup
Test Match Honour Roll
At the Townsville District Rugby Union Referees Dinner on 2 October 2009, Dickinson confirmed he had refereed 43 matches in total. 41 of those matches are listed below.
- 1997
Papua New Guinea v. Tahiti
- 1997
Tonga v. Cook Islands
- 1998
Canada v. Argentina
- 1998
Hong Kong v. South Korea
- 1998
Wales v. South Africa
- 1999
New Zealand v. France
- 1999
Scotland v. Uruguay
(World Cup)
- 1999
Argentina v. Japan
(World Cup)
- 1999
Ireland v. Argentina
(World Cup)
- 2000
France v. England
- 2000
South Africa v. England
- 2000
Wales v. Samoa
- 2001
France v. Scotland
- 2001
England v. Italy
- 2001
New Zealand Maoris v. Argentina
- 2001
England v. South Africa
- 2002
Japan v. South Korea
- 2002 Taipei v. South Korea
- 2002
Fiji v. Tonga
- 2002
New Zealand v. South Africa
- 2002
Wales v. Fiji
- 2003
New Zealand v. England
- 2003
Scotland v. Japan
(World Cup)
- 2003
South Africa v. Georgia
(World Cup)
- 2004
Wales v. France
- 2004
New Zealand v. PIRA
- 2005 British and Irish Lions v. Argentina
- 2005
England v. Barbarians
- 2005
Wales v. South Africa
- 2006
Ireland v. Scotland
- 2006
New Zealand v. Ireland
- 2006
South Africa v. France
- 2006
France v. New Zealand
- 2007
New Zealand v. France
- 2007
New Zealand v. South Africa
- 2007
USA v. Tonga
(World Cup)
- 2007
Argentina v. Namibia
(World Cup)
- 2007
Wales v. Fiji
(World Cup)
- 2008
Ireland v. England
- 2008
New Zealand v. South Africa
- 2008
New Zealand v. Samoa
- 2008
Wales v. Canada
- 2009
England v. France
- 2009
South Africa v. British and Irish Lions
- 2009
Italy v. New Zealand
- 2010
Argentina v. France
2010 Super 14 Season
- Round 1, 12 February 2010: Hurricanes 34 – 20 Blues
- Round 7, 26 March 2010: Highlanders 39 – 29 Lions
- Round 8, 2 April 2010: Western Force 16 – 15 Stormers
- Round 9, 10 April 2010: Blues 21 – 33 Stormers
- Round 12, 30 April 2010: Stormers 42 – 14 Crusaders
- Round 13, 8 May 2010: Sharks 20 – 14 Stormers
- Semi-Final, 22 May 2010: Bulls 39 – 24 Crusaders
Published works
Shortly after the 2007 World Cup, Dickinson authored and released a book entitled "The Rugby World Cup Diaries – A referee's inside view" which gave an insight into the World Cup from the view of the referee.
References
- ^ "Stu Dickinson calls time on his career". rugby.com.au. 27 September 2011. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
External links
- Stuart Dickinson on rwc2003.irb.com
- Rugby World Cup 2007 match official appointments set IRB.com
- "Boks blame Dickinson" – Tri-Nations 2007 refereeing controversy sport.iafrica.com