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'A tremendous honour': Hollie Davidson set to make history in June
By Josh Raisey
Referee Hollie Davidson is set to make history next month when she referee's Italy's contest with Portugal, becoming the first female to referee a match involving a men's Six Nations team in a Test match.
This will be the second time the Scot has refereed a men's Test match, having taken charge of Malta versus Cyprus in 2019, and will now referee Portugal versus Italy in Lisbon on June 25, as well as Canada versus Belgium in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on July 2.
The match in Portugal will also feature an all-female officiating team of Sara Cox (England) and Aurélie Groizeleau (France) as assistant referees and Claire Hodnett (England) as the Television Match Official (TMO), which will also be a first in a men's Test match.
Only last week Davidson was named as one of the referees for the upcoming 2021 World Cup in New Zealand, set to start in October.
“To be the first woman to referee a men’s Six Nations team is a tremendous honour and an achievement I am proud of," Davidson said after the announcement was made.
“I have been happy with my progress in the last couple of years and working as a full-time professional referee with Scottish Rugby has really helped that.
“I couldn’t believe it when I heard the news as I didn’t think something like this would have happened so quickly in my career but I’m really proud and looking forward to the summer.
“In the last year I have been fortunate to have been refereed high profile fixtures in both the men’s and women’s game which will act as great preparation going into the summer for these two matches.”
Scottish Rugby performance director Jim Mallinder said: “Hollie is a pioneer for female refereeing in Scotland and to make history by becoming the first woman to officiate a men’s match including a Tier 1 country is an incredible achievement.
“Hollie’s two appointments this summer are a testament to the effort she has put in so far in her refereeing career.
“She has refereed well this season building up experiences of taking charge of high profile matches such as the 1872 derby match recently. All of those matches will stand her in great stead as she marks another impressive milestone in her career.”
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Latest Comments
So “it wasn’t foul play because it wasn’t foul play” is - to you - not only an acceptable answer but the only possible answer?
I would hope that the definition of foul play is clear enough that they can say “that wasn’t foul play - even though it resulted in a serious injury - because although player A did not wrap with the right arm, he entered the ruck through the gate and from a legal angle at a legal height, and was supporting his own weight until player B entered the ruck behind him and pushed him onto player C’s leg” or “that wasn’t foul play although players D and E picked player F out of a ruck, tipped him upside down and dropped him on his shoulder because reasons.”
Referees sometimes offer a clear explanation, especially when in discussion with the TMO, but they don’t always, especially for incidents that aren’t reviewed on field. It’s also a recognised flaw in the bunker system that there isn’t an explanation of the card decisions - I’d personally prefer the bunker to prepare a short package of the best angles and play back to the ref their reasoning, with the ref having the final say, like an enhanced TMO. It would cost a few more seconds, but would help the crowd to understand.
Greater clarity carries with it risks - not least that if the subsequent feedback is at odds with the ref’s decision they run the risk of harassment on social media - but rugby is really struggling to show that it can manage these decisions consistently, and offering a clear explanation after the fact would help to ensure better consistency in officiating in future.
Go to commentsI don’t even think the U20s are much of a crumb of comfort to be honest - they only really did what Welsh teams have done to plenty of highly fancied English teams before them and ambushed them in Cardiff with lots of PASHUN LADS etc. If you’d ask me which of the two teams will make a dent at the forthcoming JWC, it won’t be Wales. It also doesn’t seem to matter how talented Wales are at age grade, the players stagnate once they reach the regions, hence why Gatland was often keen on fast tracking youth.
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