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

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