William Derek Bevan (born 3 September 1947 in Clydach, Wales) is a Welsh international

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

referee. Bevan refereed his first international match on 22 April 1984, the 1983–84 FIRA Trophy match between Italy and Romania. Bevan refereed a total of 11 Rugby World Cup games, beginning with two games at the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987 and three games at the

1991 Rugby World Cup The 1991 Rugby World Cup was the second edition of the Rugby World Cup, and was jointly hosted by England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France: at the time, the five European countries who participated in the Five Nations Championship. This was ...

, including the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

between Australia and England. At the

1995 Rugby World Cup The 1995 Rugby World Cup was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country. The World Cup was the first major sporting event to take place in Sou ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, Bevan was in charge of three matches, including the opening match of the tournament and the semi-final between hosts South Africa and France, and was one of the touch judges for the

. At a banquet held after the conclusion of the tournament, the president of the South African Rugby Union,

Louis Luyt Louis Luyt (18 June 1932 – 1 February 2013) was a South African business tycoon and politician, and one-time rugby administrator. Having been a rugby player as a young man, Luyt went on to become a businessman. He founded Triomf Fertiliser a ...

, described Bevan as "the most wonderful referee in the world" and "the outstanding referee in the World Cup" before attempting to present him with a gold watch estimated to be worth £1000 GBP. Bevan's response was to walk out along with the other officials present, and later said "'It was something I could have done without...It could be misconstrued, and if that is the case, it leaves a bitter taste." He refereed three games at the 1999 Rugby World Cup, hosted in his native Wales, including the semi-final between Australia and South Africa. His final international appearance was in the

2000 Six Nations The 2000 Six Nations Championship was the first series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship, following the addition of Italy to the Five Nations. It was the 106th season of the championship overall. The title was won by England. England won ...

game between Ireland and Italy. Later that year, he was appointed MBE in the Queen's birthday honours. He held the Welsh record for number of international matches refereed until 2013, when

Nigel Owens Nigel Owens, (born 18 June 1971) is a Welsh former international rugby union referee, who retired in December 2020 after a 17-year career. He currently holds the world record for the most test matches refereed and is one of five international re ...

surpassed his total of 44 international games. At club level, Bevan's career highlights include taking charge of the 1997 European Cup final between Brive and Leicester and refereeing the

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup ( cy, Cwpan Cymdeithas Pêl-droed Cymru), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the mos ...

final on four occasions. Since his retirement from refereeing, Bevan has worked as a

Television Match Official Rugby union match officials are responsible for enforcing the rugby union laws of the game during a match and imposing sanctions on individuals who do not follow the rules. "Every match is under the control of match officials who consist of the re ...

(TMO). His final game as a TMO was in May 2016. Outside rugby, Bevan worked as a training officer for BP's chemicals division in

Port Talbot Port Talbot (, ) is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, situated on the east side of Swansea Bay, approximately from Swansea. The Port Talbot Steelworks covers a large area of land which dominates the south ...

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