David McHugh is a former

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

rugby union referee Rugby union match officials are responsible for enforcing the rugby union laws of the game during a match and imposing sanctions on individuals who do not follow the rules. "Every match is under the control of match officials who consist of the r ...

. McHugh refereed matches at the

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

and

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup. Originally planned to be hosted by India, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the Indian Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup ...

s. In 1996 McHugh refereed the inaugural Heineken Cup final. He would also referee the 2001 final, making him the first referee to take charge of two European Rugby Champions Cup finals. He also refereed 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 ...

, the Six Nations Championship and the Tri Nations. In 2002, while refereeing a Tri Nations match between

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, McHugh was assaulted by a South African fan. After retiring as a referee in 2004, McHugh worked as a referee performance officer and then manager for the Irish Rugby Football Union.

Early life

McHugh was educated at St Munchin's College and played as a scrum-half for

Aer Lingus Aer Lingus ( ; an anglicisation of the Irish , meaning "air fleet" compare Welsh 'llynges awyr') is the flag carrier of Ireland. Founded by the Irish Government, it was privatised between 2006 and 2015 and it is now a wholly owned subsidiary ...

, Highfield and

Ballincollig Ballincollig () is a suburban town within the administrative area of Cork city in Ireland. It is located on the western side of Cork city, beside the River Lee on the R608 regional road. In 2016 it was the largest town in County Cork, at wh ...

. Although originally from

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

, McHugh would later settle in Blackrock, Cork. Before becoming a full-time professional referee, McHugh was a fruit importer.

Refereeing career

Early years

McHugh began refereeing in the 1980s. He would later recall taking charge of a schoolboy international between a

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

team featuring

Scott Quinnell Scott Quinnell (born 20 August 1972) is a Welsh former dual-code rugby union and rugby league player who played in the 1990s and 2000s. He was a number 8 for Wales, Llanelli RFC, Llanelli Scarlets, Richmond and the British & Irish Lions in rugb ...

and an

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team captained by

Kyran Bracken Kyran Paul Patrick Bracken MBE (born 22 November 1971) is a world-cup winning former rugby union footballer who played at scrum-half for Saracens, Bristol and Waterloo. He won a total of 51 England caps and captained the team on three occasi ...

. McHugh made his senior international debut as a referee on 17 September 1994 when he took charge of a 1995 Rugby World Cup qualifier between

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

and

at Dinamo Stadium.

Six Nations Championship

On 18 February

McHugh made his

Five Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) is an annual international men's rugby union competition between the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The current champions ar ...

debut when he took charge of a match between

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and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

at the Parc des Princes. On 21 February 2004 he refereed his final Six Nations Championship game when he took charge of the match between

and Scotland at

Murrayfield Murrayfield is an affluent area to the west of Edinburgh city centre in Scotland. It is to the east of Corstorphine and north of Balgreen and Roseburn. The A8 road runs east–west through the south of the area. Murrayfield is often con ...

Heineken Cup

In 1996 McHugh refereed the inaugural Heineken Cup final between Stade Toulousain and

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

. He would also referee the 2001 final between Leicester Tigers and Stade Français, making him the first referee to take charge of two European Rugby Champions Cup finals.

Rugby World Cup

McHugh refereed matches at the

and

s. He made his Rugby World Cup debut on 3 June 1995 taking charge of a match between

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and

. McHugh issued three red cards, sending off Canada's

Rod Snow Rod Snow is a Canadian former professional rugby union prop. Snow began his senior club rugby with the Newfoundland amateur club team Dogs RFC. He went on to play professionally in South Africa for Eastern Province in 1995, before joining Ne ...

and Gareth Rees and South Africa's James Dalton following a brawl. McHugh went onto referee six

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

matches over three tournaments.

Tri Nations assault

On 10 August 2002 McHugh was refereeing a Tri Nations match between

and

at the ABSA Stadium. McHugh had awarded New Zealand a penalty try, after a high tackle on

Tana Umaga Jonathan Ionatana Falefasa Umaga (; ; born 27 May 1973) is a New Zealand former rugby union footballer and former captain of the national team, the All Blacks. Since 2016 he has been coach of the Blues in the Super Rugby competition. He play ...

, and denied South Africa's Breyton Paulse a try after an interference call against James Dalton. These incidents allegedly incited Pieter Van Zyl, a South African supporter, to invade the pitch and tackle and assault McHugh. Van Zyl evaded over four hundred security officials to launch the assault as New Zealand's

Justin Marshall Justin Warren Marshall (born 5 August 1973) is a New Zealand former rugby union player. He played 81 games for the New Zealand All Blacks between 1995 and 2005. Marshall played for the in the Super 12 from 1996 to 2005, winning the competit ...

was preparing to put the ball into a scrum. New Zealand's

Richie McCaw Richard Hugh McCaw (born 31 December 1980) is a retired New Zealand professional rugby union player. He captained the national team, the All Blacks, in 110 out of his 148 test matches, and won two Rugby World Cups. He has won the World Rugb ...

punched Van Zyl and, together with South Africa's

AJ Venter AJ Venter (born 29 July 1973) is a retired South African rugby union footballer, who played rugby for the Sharks in the international Super Rugby competition, and the in the domestic Currie Cup competition. Venter also played for the South Afr ...

, wrestled the assailant off McHugh. Van Zyl was then escorted off the pitch by two security officials. The assault left McHugh with a dislocated shoulder and he had to be replaced as the match referee by Chris White. Van Zyl was subsequently found guilty of assaulting McHugh and fined R10,000 (€1,012). He also received a lifelong ban, preventing him from attending matches organised by the

South African Rugby Union The South African Rugby Union (SARU) is the governing body for rugby union in South Africa and is affiliated to World Rugby. It was established in 1992 as the South African Rugby Football Union, from the merger of the South African Rugby Board ...

IRFU

After retiring as a referee, McHugh continued to be employed by the

IRFU 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 ...

in various roles. He served as specialist advisor on the

2005 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand In 2005, the British & Irish Lions rugby union team toured New Zealand for the first time since 1993, playing seven matches against first and second division teams from the National Provincial Championship, one match against the New Zealand Ma ...

. He also acted as a

television match official Rugby union match officials are responsible for enforcing the rugby union laws of the game during a match and imposing sanctions on individuals who do not follow the rules. "Every match is under the control of match officials who consist of the re ...

and as an assessor. However his main role was to work as a referee development officer. McHugh would help recruit and mentor both John Lacey and

Joy Neville Joy Neville (born on 24 July 1983) is a former Ireland women's rugby union international and a current rugby union referee. As a player, Neville represented Ireland at both the 2006 and 2010 Women's Rugby World Cups. In 2009 Neville captaine ...

. In August 2015 McHugh became the IRFU referee performance manager. This involved coaching and managing the IRFU's elite panel of referees who took charge of matches in 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 ...

, the European Rugby Champions Cup and the

European Rugby Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception ...

as well as test matches. On 5 October 2017 his contract with the IRFU was terminated, following an independent review of the referee department. McHugh subsequently took legal action, involving the High Court, against the IRFU, claiming unfair dismissal. However on 7 November 2017 it was announced that the McHugh and the IRFU had reached a

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building * Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction *Settlement (fin ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McHugh, David 1955 births Living people Irish rugby union referees Irish rugby union players Rugby union players from County Cork Rugby union players from County Limerick IRFU referees Rugby World Cup referees The Rugby Championship referees Six Nations Championship referees European Rugby Champions Cup referees United Rugby Championship referees People educated at St Munchin's College