Mike Adamson (born 17 May 1984) is a former Scotland 7s 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 its m ...

player and now referee. His primary playing position was at

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

. Adamson played professionally for

Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and became t ...

and London Scottish and at amateur level for

Glasgow Hawks Glasgow Hawks is an amateur rugby union team in Glasgow, Scotland. They were Premiership Division One champions for three consecutive seasons from 2003–04 to 2005–06. History In Paris on 27 August 1995 a meeting of the International Rugby ...

. Adamson is now a SRU referee for the

Pro14 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

European Professional Club Rugby European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) is the governing body and organiser of the two major European rugby union club tournaments: the European Rugby Champions Cup and the European Rugby Challenge Cup. A third tournament, the European Rugby Chal ...

and

World Rugby World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...

Rugby union career

Playing career

Amateur career

Adamson was born in

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

, Scotland. He played for

. He played with the Hawks for 11 years. He helped Glasgow Hawks to National Cup victory in 2007.

Professional career

Adamson went on to play for

, first securing a part-time contract in 2006. At the start of 2006–07 season he played in two pre-season friendlies against Moseley and Newcastle Falcons. He also played for Glasgow Warriors in a friendly at the end of the 2006–07 season against Scotland U20s, scoring a try and four conversions in the match. He then secured a full-time contract with the Glasgow side in May 2007. He was involved in all 3 pre-season matches for the Warriors in 2007–08 season. He made his only competitive appearance for the Warriors in the

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organisation, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places part ...

on 4 January 2008 against

Newport Gwent Dragons Dragons RFC ( cy, Dreigiau) are one of the four professional rugby union regional teams in Wales. They are owned by the Welsh Rugby Union and play their home games at Rodney Parade, Newport and at other grounds around the region. They play in ...

. Although he stayed with the Warriors until 2010 he was unable to gain more competitive appearances, finding himself behind

Dan Parks Daniel Arthur Parks (born 26 May 1978) is an Australian-born former international rugby union player and now coach. His primary playing position was at fly-half. Parks played professionally for Pro12 sides Glasgow Warriors, Cardiff Blues an ...

and

Ruaridh Jackson Ruaridh James Howard Jackson (born 12 February 1988) is a former Scotland international rugby union player. He previously played for Glasgow Warriors in the Pro14. Jackson started his career playing at fly-half, but soon transitioned to playin ...

for the fly-half berth. He moved on to play for London Scottish but he was to similarly play only 1 competitive match for the exile side, against

London Welsh London Welsh Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Cymry Llundain) was a rugby union club formed in 1885. Based in Old Deer Park, Richmond-upon-Thames, London Welsh RFC played in the English Premiership in the 2012–13 and 2014–15 seasons, ...

in the 2011–12 season.

International career

Adamson played for Scotland through the age grades:- Scotland U16, U17, U18, U19, U21 and Club XV. He received senior caps for the Scotland 7s side. He was Scotland 7s player of the season in 2006-07 and went on to play in 30 World Rugby 7s events. He was a Plate Winner in the 2009 Dubai tournament and represented Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

Referee career

When Adamson finished playing professional rugby he turned to refereeing. He stated: "Former players usually go down the coaching route after retirement but I feel I will be able to achieve more through refereeing. I have gained a lot from rugby and would like to give back to the sport." He has worked his way up the refereeing ladder, officiating in the Anglo-Welsh Cup in England, the Currie Cup in South Africa as well as PRO D2 in France. His refereeing progress and development has been deemed a rapid rise. He has now also refereed in Japan's Top League. Adamson has been refereeing World 7s matches since 2014. He was appointed to the Refereeing Panel for the Olympic Games Rugby Sevens for Rio 2016. He refereed his first

Pro12 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

match on 26 November 2016; the match

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

versus

Treviso Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and ''comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Veneti ...

. He became the first ex-player to play and referee in the Celtic League / Pro 12 league. He refereed the 2nd Leg of the

1872 Cup The 1872 Cup – also known as the 1872 Challenge Cup – is a men's rugby union tournament contested every year between the two Scottish professional clubs, Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby. Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby use selected ...

between

and

Edinburgh Rugby Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners) is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh play ...

at the end of the 2016–17 season. He was named as one of the 9 referees that will take charge of the World Rugby U20 Championships in Georgia 2017. He refereed his first Super 6 match on 21 December 2019. On 20 November 2021, Adamson refereed his first tier one International Match between Wales and Australia. On 6 August 2022, Adamson refereed his first Rugby Championship International Match between Argentina and Australia.

References

External links

Scotland 7's star Mike Adamson exchanges his boots for a whistle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adamson, Mike 1872 Cup referees 1984 births People educated at Dollar Academy Commonwealth Games rugby sevens players for Scotland Glasgow Hawks players Glasgow Warriors players Living people London Scottish F.C. players Male rugby sevens players Rugby sevens players at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union players from Stirling Scotland Club XV international rugby union players Scotland international rugby sevens players Scottish rugby union players Scottish rugby union referees Six Nations Championship referees Super 6 referees United Rugby Championship referees