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.
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.
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 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 Chinese 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 Pacific Islanders
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
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
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
1968 births
Living people
People educated at Epping Boys High School
Australian rugby union referees
Rugby World Cup referees
Super Rugby referees
The Rugby Championship referees
Six Nations Championship referees
ARU referees