Stephen Hilditch (born Whitehead, County Antrim on 6 June 1946) is a former Irish 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 ...

referee from

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

who has refereed matches to World Cup level. He was a member of the Ireland International Referee Panel from 1984 until 1995, and has been an IRB international referee selector since 2003. He was President of the Ulster Branch of the

Irish Rugby Football Union The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) ( ga, Cumann Rugbaí na hÉireann) is the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland (both Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ...

(IRFU) for the 2003 / 2004 season. He joined the IRFU Committee in June 2004, becoming President of the organisation in the 2016/2017 season. Hilditch worked as a physics teacher at

Grosvenor Grammar School Grosvenor Grammar School (formerly Grosvenor High School) is an 11–18 co-educational controlled grammar school and sixth form in Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. History Grosvenor Grammar School was founded in 1945 as Grosvenor Hi ...

, then Vice Principal of Wallace High School, and finally Headmaster of

Belfast High School Belfast High School (BHS) is a co-educational voluntary grammar school in Jordanstown, Newtownabbey, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It was established in 1854 and is within the North Eastern Region of the Education Authority. In May 2007, it ...

before retiring in 2006. He was appointed MBE in the

1995 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1995 were appointments by most of the sixteen Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those co ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hilditch, Stephen 1946 births Living people People from Whitehead, County Antrim People educated at Larne Grammar School Irish rugby union referees Members of the Order of the British Empire Rugby World Cup referees IRFU referees