Doyle
J. P. Doyle is a popular Irish referee who currently officiates in the United States. Discover his decorated career with RugbyPass, your resident rugby gurus.
J. P. Doyle Bio
John Paul Doyle, better known as J. P. Doyle, is an Irish rugby union referee who currently referees in Major League Rugby. Prior to this, he spent the majority of his refereeing career in England, where he took charge of Premiership and Heineken Champions Cup matches. JP Doyle was inducted into the RugbyPass Hall of Fame in 2021.
J. P. Doyle was born on 3 August 1979 in Dublin. During his younger years, he played as a scrum half. However, he was forced to retire from playing in 2002 after undergoing surgery.
As a result of his retirement from playing, J. P. Doyle started refereeing. After starting his career with the Association of Referees Leinster Branch of the IRFU in 2001, he then joined the London Society of RFU Referees in 2003. Following this, he progressed through the ranks quickly and he was promoted to the National Panel in 2006.
In 2010, J. P. Doyle was awarded with a full-time contract after successfully completing a two-year trainee programme that had seen him referee in the Premiership, the Churchill Cup, the Pacific Rim Rugby Championship and on the IRB Sevens circuit.
Between 2010 and 2020, J. P. Doyle regularly officiated games in the RFU Championship and the Premiership. In addition, from 2007, he also began to officiate in European Rugby Challenge Cup matches, and he refereed his first Heineken Champions Cup game in 2010.
Since then, J. P. Doyle has also officiated on the international stage, including a game between Argentina and Georgia at the 2015 Rugby World Cup, and a fixture between France and Italy in the 2016 Six Nations Championship.
Sadly, J. P. Doyle was released from his RFU contract in 2020 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. He has since refereed in Major League Rugby matches in the United States.
