John Pym Gray Pring (30 December 1927 – 10 March 2014) was a New Zealand

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 its m ...

referee. His refereeing career spanned 40 years, and included controlling all four test matches between the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

and the British Lions on their 1971 tour to New Zealand. He was the first, and so far only, person to referee every test match in a Lions series. In the 1979 Queen's Birthday Honours, Pring was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, for services to rugby refereeing. Pring died in the Auckland suburb of Northcote on 10 March 2014. His wife, Kathleen, died in 2021.

References

1927 births 2014 deaths People from Auckland New Zealand rugby union referees New Zealand Members of the Order of the British Empire {{NewZealand-rugbyunion-bio-1920s-stub