John Paul "JP" Doyle (born 3 August 1979) is an Irish

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 it ...

referee. Doyle was one of ten full-time

referees 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 ...

employed by the English Rugby Football Union until his redundancy in August 2020. In 2021, he was a referee in Major League Rugby (MLR) in the United States. In 2022, he was named high performance referee coach by

Scottish Rugby Union The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU; gd, Aonadh Rugbaidh na h-Alba) is the governing body of rugby union in Scotland. Styled as Scottish Rugby, it is the second oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873. The SRU oversees the national league s ...

Playing career

Doyle was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, the son of Terry Doyle, later President (2006–7) of the Association of Referees Leinster Branch of 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 ...

. He played scrum-half at school for

Terenure College Terenure College is a Carmelite-run secondary school located in the suburb of Terenure, Dublin, Ireland. The school was founded in 1860 and had an associated primary school until 2017. It is one of the "big six" Leinster Schools Rugby-playin ...

, then

Terenure College RFC Terenure College RFC was founded on 5 November 1940. It is a senior rugby club in Dublin, Ireland, playing in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League. History Terenure College RFC was founded on 5 November 1940. With a great love for the game an ...

and

St Mary's University College, Twickenham , mottoeng = Show Thyself to be a Mother , established = 1850 (as St Mary's College)2014 (gained university status) , type = Public university , religious_affiliation = Roman Catholic , endowment ...

where he trained to be a secondary school teacher. He was forced to stop playing due to an injury and surgery on his back in 2002.

Refereeing career

Doyle started his refereeing career with the Association of Referees Leinster Branch of the

in 2001 and joined the

London Society of RFU Referees London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...

in January 2003. He was promoted to the South East Group later in 2003 and to the National Panel in 2006. He refereed the final of the Daily Mail Under 18 Schools Cup at

Twickenham Stadium Twickenham Stadium () in Twickenham, south-west London, England, is a rugby union stadium owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), English rugby union governing body, which has its headquarters there. The England national rugby union team plays ...

in 2007 and the EDF Energy National Trophy Final in 2008. He was appointed as a trainee full-time official on 1 September 2008. In May 2010, the Elite Referee Unit (ERU) of the RFU confirmed his full-time contract after successfully completing a two-year trainee programme that had seen him referee in the Premiership, the IRB Sevens circuit, the

Churchill Cup The Churchill Cup was an annual rugby union tournament, held in June, contested by representative men's (and formerly women's) teams from Canada, England, the United States, and other invited teams (originally one and later three) from a wide arr ...

and Pacific Rim Rugby Championship tournaments. He officiated at the 2009 IRB Nations Cup, the 2010, 2011 and

2012 IRB Junior World Championship The 2012 IRB Junior World Championship was the fifth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. This competition replaced the now defunct Under 19 and Under 21 world championships. The event was organised in South A ...

, and the 2010–12 European Nations Cup First Division. He has regularly refereed matches in the

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men’s English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when ...

, Premiership and the LV= Cup including important Final matches. Doyle refereed his first

European 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 i ...

match in the 2007–08 season on 18 January 2008 when he officiated at Dax verses

Calvisano Calvisano ( Brescian: ) is a ''comune'' in the Italian province of Brescia, in Lombardy. It is the manufacturing base of Lones Spa, manufacturer of Fly Flot shoes. Agritech is a known fiberglass silos company. Sport Its rugby union Rugby ...

pool game. His first Heineken Cup game followed in the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

season on 17 October 2010 (the pool game between Perpignan and Benetton Treviso). On 27 May 2014, it was announced that Doyle would referee the 2014 Aviva Premiership final, his first as referee. On 25 September 2015, Doyle refereed the 2015 Rugby World Cup Pool C match between

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. Doyle refereed the opening match of the

2016 Six Nations Championship The 2016 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2016 RBS 6 Nations due to the tournament's sponsorship by The Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 17th series of the Six Nations Championship, the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship. I ...

(between France and Italy).

Notes

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doyle, J.P. Irish rugby union referees Living people 1979 births Rugby union players from County Dublin Irish rugby union players Terenure College RFC players Irish expatriate sportspeople in England Rugby World Cup referees Premiership Rugby referees European Rugby Champions Cup referees EPCR Challenge Cup referees Six Nations Championship referees