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JP Doyle is back refereeing eight months after he was made redundant by the RFU

By Liam Heagney
(Photo by Bob Bradford/ CameraSport via Getty Images)

Popular referee JP Doyle is set to resume his career in America with the MLR eight months after it emerged he had been made redundant by the RFU in England following a decade on their full-time refereeing staff. It was last August, amid the post-lockdown restart of the 2019/20 Gallagher Premiership, when it emerged that Doyle was deemed surplus to requirement by the referees’ department at RFU HQ in Twickenham. 

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Doyle remained involved in refereeing since his redundancy, accepting an invitation to referee at the World Tens tournament that was held over three weekends in Bermuda in October and November, but his latest move to the MLR could mean he will continue long-term as a referee.

Despite all the difficulties currently involved in trans-Atlantic travel, Doyle opted to link up with the MLR and he has been appointed to take charge of this Saturday’s Toronto Arrows and Seattle Seawolves match in Marietta, Georgia.

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Kurtley Beale guests on the latest RugbyPass Offload with Simon Zebo and Ryan Wilson

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Kurtley Beale guests on the latest RugbyPass Offload with Simon Zebo and Ryan Wilson

It was January when the 41-year-old spoke to RugbyPass Offload about his controversial departure from the RFU where he had been part of their national panel of referees since 2006, stepping up to a full-time role in 2010 and going on to take charge of the 2014 Premiership final and officiate at the following year’s World Cup.  

Asked on the show why exactly he was made redundant, Doyle told RugbyPass Offload: “Well, I didn’t actually ask in the end. I just kind of got the news and went ‘fine’. The easiest thing is they just made redundancies, they decided I was the best person to made redundant.

“Players move clubs, people move jobs. It’s not ideal. I wasn’t happy. I didn’t like it. I was upset but I understood their point, where things are. It’s a game, we move on. If there was a story it would be great to get it out there and say what they did and what I did, (but) it’s a situation they were in. They made a decision. It sucks for me. I’m sure it sucks for them as well and you just move on. 

“There is no chapter seven in the book that you can say, ‘I’ll hold this one back’. It just is a redundancy and there is a lot of people in a lot of situations at the moment and no one is going to cry for a referee, unfortunately.” 

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G
GS 54 minutes ago
Bundee Aki sends new reminder to All Blacks he's the one that got away

Interestingly, your dishonesty in not being truthful reflects on you. As explained to you and probably by many other people in the past, NZ is a multi-cultural country with a large percentage of the population being of Polynesian heritage.


Let me share a personal story that illustrates this. My cousin, a good Kiwi girl, fell in love and married a Samoan over 40 years ago. They started a family, and now their daughter is about to start her own.


Now, when the child is older, he/she can choose to play for ABs or Samoa—ABs via birth and Samoa via Grandparents. It is probably very likely, as the husband is a former AB, so a professional rugby career is a distinct possibility.


If he plays for ABs - given your state of mind, NZ has stolen him from Samoa...


There is natural immigration between NZ and the Islands. They are part of our community, and kids do come down on rugby scholarships to learn rugby and get an education.


On the other hand, Ireland specifically targeted adult professional rugby players, who they termed "project players," to cap them for Ireland. Among those numbers are people like Jarrod Payne, Aki, Lowe, CJ Stander, etc.


This "project "was run and funded by the IRFU to directly assist the Irish rugby team in addressing depth issues.


20% of the Irish run on team vs NZ at the WC, were in effect "project players" - maybe Jamieson GP is little different as don't think he was deliberately targeted unlike Aki/Lowe.


That you can honestly compare natural immigration between Islands and the Pacific, where the cultural makeup is similar vs. a targeted project set up by the IRFU, shows just how inherently dishonest you are.


The foolish thing about it is it embarrasses the Irish team when it's not necessary. As shown by the last test against the Boks, Ireland didn't need these project players to win, as they are a quality side without those players.


Instead, all they have done is give people the ability to detract from any achievements by pointing out the Irish brought their way to success.

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