News article – Style E 4662

The IRFU (Irish Rugby Football Union) has honoured its past and present referees who have officiated at the highest levels of the game.

A special cap presentation ceremony recently took place in Old Belvedere Rugby Club in Dublin, where those referees who have officiated at senior international level each received commemorative caps for their services to the game.

Amongst those presented with caps were:

Ham Lambert: (who celebrates his 95th birthday this month, pictured above) refereed in the 5 Nations for the first time in 1948.

Ray Williams: first capped in 1957, Ray refereed at test level until 1964, including 3 tests on the Wilson Whineray-led New Zealand tour to the Northern Hemisphere.

Kevin Kelleher: although better known for the sending-off of Kiwi legend Colin Meads at Murrayfield in 1965, he refereed an extraordinary twenty 5 Nations matches between 1960 and 1971.

Other very well known referees honoured were Dave Burnett (first Rugby World Cup in 1987), Stephen Hilditch (World Cup semi-final in 1995), Owen Doyle (IRFU Director of Referees) and the current group of present internationals Donal Courtney, Alan Lewis and Alain Rolland.

The full list of capped referees is as follows:

N.H. Lambert 1948
R.C. Williams 1957
K.D. Kelleher 1960
R.W. Gilliland 1964
P. D’Arcy 1967
G.A. Jamieson 1972
K.H. Clark 1973
J.R. West 1974
D.I.H. Burnett 1977
M.D.M. Rea 1979
O.E. Doyle 1984
S.R. Hilditch 1984
B. Stirling 1989
D. McHugh 1994
G. Black1996
L. Mayne1997
B. Smith1997
A. Lewis1998
A. Rolland 2001
D. Courtney 2002