Roland "Roly" Dreadon Avery (15 June 1927 – 21 May 2015) 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.

Referee career

Avery controlled his first two international test matches during

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

's 1949 tour of New Zealand. He went on to referee another three test matches involving Australia, one in 1953 and two in 1961, and two involving

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

, during their 1962 tour of New Zealand. As well as seven test matches, Avery also controlled a match between France and South Auckland during the 1951 French tour of New Zealand. Avery died in

Huntly Huntly ( gd, Srath Bhalgaidh or ''Hunndaidh'') is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, formerly known as Milton of Strathbogie or simply Strathbogie. It had a population of 4,460 in 2004 and is the site of Huntly Castle. Its neighbouring settlemen ...

on 21 May 2015, aged 87.

References

1927 births 2015 deaths New Zealand rugby league referees {{NewZealand-rugbyleague-bio-stub