Georges Domercq (19 April 1931 – 9 May 2020) was a French Rugby Union referee. He was also a politician, serving as Mayor of

Bellocq Bellocq (; oc, Bètlòc) is a commune of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in southwestern France. Inhabitants of Bellocq are called Bellocquais. Economy The commune is part of the wine zone ''appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) du B ...

from 1971 to 2014.

Biography

Domercq played for Union Athlétique du Rail Puyolais from 1948 to 1958 before becoming a referee. He was a member of the Comité de Côte Basque de Rugby. He refereed the 1971-72 French Rugby Union Championship between

AS Béziers Hérault Association Sportive Béziers Hérault ( oc, Associacion Esportiva de Besièrs Erau), often referred to by rugby media simply by its location of Béziers, is a French rugby union club currently playing in the second level of the country's profess ...

and

CA Brive Club Athlétique Brive Corrèze Limousin, also referred to as CA Brive, Brive () or CAB, is a French professional rugby union club based in Brive-la-Gaillarde, in the Corrèze department. They compete in the first-tier Top 14 competition. Briv ...

, won 9 to 0 by Béziers. During his career, Domercq also refereed 30 international matches. He was the first Frenchman to referee a

test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

. He was an official in games with the

Ireland Wolfhounds The Ireland Wolfhounds (formerly Ireland A and Ireland B) are the second national rugby union team of Ireland, behind the Ireland national team. They previously competed in the Churchill Cup together with the England Saxons, the national teams ...

France A France A, also known as France XV and France B in the past, was the former name of the second national rugby union team of France behind the French national side. In 2011 the French Rugby Federation designated the France U20 team as the second ...

, and

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. He reffed games for

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

during their 1972-73 tour. He was an official for New Zealand's 14 to 9 win over

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It was the team's last game in the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

. During their tour, they were defeated by the

Barbarians A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be less c ...

23 to 11. The game was described as "the match of the century" by

Gareth Edwards Sir Gareth Owen Edwards CBE (born 12 July 1947) is a Welsh former rugby union player who played scrum-half and has been described by the BBC as "arguably the greatest player ever to don a Welsh jersey". In 2003, in a poll of international ru ...

. Domercq, "a French referee small in size but immense in his intelligence of the game", was famous for his style of refereeing in putting the foreground into the rule of advantage, inspiring many other officials to do the same. It is well known that "legendary match between the British Barbarians and the All Blacks of 1973 thus owed a lot to its referee, the Frenchman Georges Domercq, who knew how to erase himself rather than assert himself, intervening only when he considered that whistling the fault was necessary for the continuity of the game". Domercq retired as an international referee in 1980, and ended his career with the

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

in 1984. He then devoted himself to the

French Rugby Federation The French Rugby Federation (french: Fédération Française de Rugby (''FFR'')) is the governing body for rugby union in France. It is responsible for the France national rugby union team, French national team and the National Rugby League (Franc ...

, serving on the Commission centrale des arbitres from 1991 to 1995. He served as Mayor of Bellocq from 1971 to 2014. Domercq was Vice-President of the Syndicat Intercommunal d'Alimentation from 1971 to 1989, and then President from 1989 to 2014. Georges Domercq died on 9 May 2020 in Bellocq at the age of 89.

Distinctions

*Knight of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

*Trophée Adolphe-Jauréguy

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Domercq, Georges 1931 births 2020 deaths French rugby union referees Sportspeople from Pyrénées-Atlantiques Mayors of places in Nouvelle-Aquitaine People from Béarn Knights of the Legion of Honour