Stuart Dickinson

Stuart Dickinson (born 19 July, 1968) is a rugby referee. He made his international refereeing debut in 1997 in a Rugby World Cup qualifier between Tahiti and the Papua New Guinea.

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.

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.

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
*International Friendlies
*Tri Nations
*Six Nations
*The Rugby World Cup

Test Match Honour Roll

Dickinson has refereed the following 41 test matches.

*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

2007 Rugby World Cup final

In the 2007 Rugby World Cup Final on October 20 between England and South Africa, Dickinson, as Television Match Official ruled that England Wing Mark Cueto had not scored a try. He ruled that Cueto's boot had made contact with the touchline before the try was scored — in rugby union this means Cueto was outside the field of play. An extremely tight decision, even with the help of 20 camera angles, it proved highly controversial, although the BBC match report wrote that it was correct. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/7052822.stm "World Cup final 2007."] By James Standley, "BBC Sport", 20 Oct, 2007.] Dickinson's boss, International Rugby Board referees manager Paddy O'Brien publicly backed Dickinson, saying the decision was correct, adding that a photo showed Cueto's foot on the line. But Cueto claimed that the replays showed his foot lifted above the line. [ [http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/rugby_union/s/1020800_try_decision_backed "Try decision backed."] "Manchester Evening News", 21 October 2007.] [ [http://gary.bloxio.us/a/cueto-try/ Video frames of Cueto 'try'] on "Gary's Place" bloxio blog. Retrieved 26 October 2007.]

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 unheralded view of the referee.

References

External links

* [http://www.rwc2003.irb.com/EN/Tournament/Match+Officials/Officials/Stuart+Dickinson.htm Stuart Dickinson] on rwc2003.irb.com
* [http://www.irb.com/EN/News/070426+DR+WC7+Match+Officials.htm Rugby World Cup 2007 match official appointments set] IRB.com
* [http://sport.iafrica.com/rugby/trinations/news/223614.htm "Boks blame Dickinson" - Tri-Nations 2007 refereeing controversy] sport.iafrica.com