Stuart Dickinson

Stuart Dickinson (born 19 July 1968) is an Australian former Rugby union referee. Dickinson has refereed in many rugby competitions, including the Rugby World Cup, Tri Nations, Six Nations, international friendlies, Super 12/14/15, and Shute Shield. He was a referee at the 1999 Rugby World Cup, the 2003 Rugby World Cup, and the 2007 Rugby World Cup. He is Australia's most-capped referee, and the only Australian referee to appear at three Rugby World Cups.

Stuart Dickinson
Date of birth (1968-07-19) 19 July 1968
Rugby union career
Refereeing career
Years Competition Apps
1999–2007
1997–2010		 Rugby World Cup
Test Matches
Super Rugby
Tri Nations
Six Nations

Referee career

Dickinson commenced refereeing at the age of 12 while also playing fly-half and fullback for Epping Boys' High School. He was employed full-time with the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) from 1996 to 2011. Prior to 1996, he worked as a site manager for Linfox, a transport company as well as with the New South Wales Police Force.

He made his international refereeing debut in 1997 in a Rugby World Cup qualifier between Tahiti and Papua New Guinea. He refereed his first international match between two Tier 1 nations a year later for the 1998 international between Wales and South Africa at Wembley.

Dickinson refereed several pool games in the 2007 Rugby World Cup, including Fiji's upset of Wales. Shortly after the 2007 World Cup, Dickinson authored a book entitled "The Rugby World Cup Diaries – A referee's inside view."

Dickinson was publicly criticised by IRB referees manager Paddy O'Brien 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. This led to outrage by the Australian Rugby Union, who issued a formal complaint to the IRB against Paddy O'Brien. O'Brien ended up apologising to Stuart Dickinson and the Australian Rugby Union: "I have unreservedly apologised to Stuart Dickinson for the action of publicly discussing elements of his performance review and would like to extend that apology to the Australian Rugby Union," said O'Brien.

Retirement

In 2010 despite being rated in the Top 3 SANZAR Referees (after being appointed to the Super Rugby semi-final in Soweto) he was overlooked for the 6 Nations tournament for the first time since 2000. Then in 2011 Dickinson was overlooked for the Rugby World Cup. O'Brien denied there was any vendetta against Dickinson. Dickinson subsequently announced his retirement from refereeing on 27 September 2011.[1]

Test Match Honour Roll

At the Townsville District Rugby Union Referees Dinner on 2 October 2009, Dickinson confirmed (at that time) he had refereed 43 international matches in total. 41 of those matches are listed below.

  • 1997 Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea v Tahiti French Polynesia
  • 1997 Tonga Tonga v Cook Islands Cook Islands
  • 1998 Canada Canada v Argentina Argentina
  • 1998 Hong Kong Hong Kong v South Korea South Korea
  • 1998 Wales Wales v South Africa South Africa
  • 1999 New Zealand New Zealand v France France
  • 1999 Scotland Scotland v Uruguay Uruguay (World Cup)
  • 1999 Argentina Argentina v Japan Japan (World Cup)
  • 1999 Ireland Ireland v Argentina Argentina (World Cup)
  • 2000 France France v England England
  • 2000 South Africa South Africa v England England
  • 2000 Wales Wales v Samoa Samoa
  • 2001 France France v Scotland Scotland
  • 2001 England England v Italy Italy
  • 2001 New Zealand New Zealand Maoris v Argentina Argentina
  • 2001 England England v South Africa South Africa
  • 2002 Japan Japan v South Korea South Korea
  • 2002 Chinese Taipei Chinese Taipei v South Korea South Korea
  • 2002 Fiji Fiji v Tonga Tonga
  • 2002 New Zealand New Zealand v South Africa South Africa
  • 2002 Wales Wales v Fiji Fiji
  • 2003 New Zealand New Zealand v England England
  • 2003 Scotland Scotland v Japan Japan (World Cup)
  • 2003 South Africa South Africa v Georgia Georgia (country) (World Cup)
  • 2004 Wales Wales v France France
  • 2004 New Zealand New Zealand v Pacific Islanders
  • 2005 British and Irish Lions v Argentina Argentina
  • 2005 England England v Barbarians
  • 2005 Wales Wales v South Africa South Africa
  • 2006 Ireland Ireland v Scotland Scotland
  • 2006 New Zealand New Zealand v Ireland Ireland
  • 2006 South Africa South Africa v France France
  • 2006 France France v New Zealand New Zealand
  • 2007 New Zealand New Zealand v France France
  • 2007 New Zealand New Zealand v South Africa South Africa
  • 2007 United States USA v Tonga Tonga (World Cup)
  • 2007 Argentina Argentina v Namibia Namibia (World Cup)
  • 2007 Wales Wales v Fiji Fiji (World Cup)
  • 2008 Ireland Ireland v England England
  • 2008 New Zealand New Zealand v South Africa South Africa
  • 2008 New Zealand New Zealand v Samoa Samoa
  • 2008 Wales Wales v Canada Canada
  • 2009 England England v France France
  • 2009 South Africa South Africa v British and Irish Lions
  • 2009 Italy Italy v New Zealand New Zealand
  • 2010 Argentina Argentina v France France
  • 2011 New Zealand vs Fiji

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

References
  1. "Stu Dickinson calls time on his career". rugby.com.au. 27 September 2011. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
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