John Percival was a New Zealand

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

. An international referee, in 1995 Percival was one of the

New Zealand Rugby League The New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in New Zealand. SPARC, 2009: 13 The NZRL was founded on 25 April 1910 in preparation for a tour of Great Britain that same year.Coffey and Wood ''T ...

's inaugural inductions into the "Legends of League".

Domestic career

Percival was from the

Point Chevalier Pirates The Point Chevalier Pirates are an Auckland rugby league club based in Point Chevalier. The Pirates currently compete in the Fox Memorial (First Division) competition run by the Auckland Rugby League. History The club was founded in 1919."Yo ...

club and played for the 1947 Schoolboy Kiwi side.''Lion Red 1988 Rugby League Annual'',

New Zealand Rugby Football League The New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in New Zealand. SPARC, 2009: 13 The NZRL was founded on 25 April 1910 in preparation for a tour of Great Britain that same year.Coffey and Wood ''T ...

, 1988. p.81 He took up refereeing in 1956 and controlled matches in the

Auckland Rugby League The Auckland Rugby League (ARL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league in the Auckland Region of New Zealand. It is responsible for rugby league in the region, including both club and school rugby league. It began in 1910 when the fi ...

competition. By 1960 he was receiving provincial appointments. He earned a reputation for being a dominant and "eagle-eyed" referee. Percival is credited with innovating the penalty for backchat as he regularly used to march teams for the offence before it was added to the official rulebook. The

's Referee of the Year award is named the "John Percival Memorial Premiership Referee of the Year" in recognition of Percival's service to the game.

International career

His first Test match was in 1964 when the French toured New Zealand. Percival controlled 27 internationals between 1964 and 1980, the most for a New Zealand official. This included nine matches in the

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

and

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

. In 1995 Percival was one of the inaugural inductees onto the NZRL's Legends of League. He is an

Immortal.Stacey Jones, Auckland Rugby League Immortal
''est1995.co.nz'', 21 September 2003

Later years

Percival was involved on the board of the

Auckland Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

in 1995 while they were owned by the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Percival, John Year of birth missing Year of death missing New Zealand rugby league referees New Zealand rugby league administrators New Zealand rugby league players Point Chevalier Pirates players