IN THOMOND PARK in December 2018, JP Doyle found himself in the thick of it during a feisty game Champions Cup between Munster and Castres.
It was the kind of match he loves refereeing – a sparky, full-blooded affair where there simply weren’t any lulls.
Attempting to calm things down, the Irish referee was caught in the middle of a shouting match between Rory Kockott and Peter O’Mahony.
“I had never heard of what a ‘gowl’ was before and I was listening to them shouting at each other and Peter called him a gowl,” explains Dublin native Doyle.
“I went, ‘What’s a gowl?’ and Peter just turns to me and says ‘You’re a gowl!’
Doyle simply had to laugh at the time and he does so often as he reflects on the eclectic mix of moments that stand out during his 12-year career as a professional referee with the RFU in England.
His time with the English union ended rather abruptly earlier this month when he was made redundant, the RFU cutting loose one of their 10 elite full-time referees as they face losses of over £100 million.
The affable 41-year-old Irishman is sanguine about the situation he finds himself in.
“It was more a company communication, just like any company communication where they said ‘We’re going to need to shed X-amount of jobs for the survival of the company’,” explains Doyle.
“Then it took a couple of weeks to find out which departments had been lined up. The community game coaching took a really heavy hit, they bore the brunt of it, then other departments too.
“I got caught up in it and that’s how it was. You’re almost taking a punch on the chin for the good of the game, unfortunately.”
News of Doyle being made redundant was met with an outpour of shock and disappointment by the rugby community, with praise for his refereeing and also many expressions of hope that another union or league will snap him up quickly.
41-year-old Doyle is trying to figure out what comes next and says he would “love to stay in rugby if I can.” However, he highlights that other rugby unions have their own plans for developing referees.
“There’s lot of words out there that I should be talking to this union or that union but the reality is that they’ve all got their own interests,” says Doyle.
“The IRFU, for example, has its Andrew Braces, Frank Murphys, its top referees, then guys and girls it wants to bring through.
“Whether they’d be interested in me blocking that… They could think about bringing someone in to help nurture and develop younger referees but they already have people for that. They don’t need me, if they wanted me they could use me. You can move unions but other unions have their own development projects going on.”
Doyle is a qualified school teacher so he has that option moving forward but he surely has more to offer professional rugby and mentions media work as a possibility. The complexities of rugby’s laws are something he could certainly shed light on.
Frustratingly, Doyle is in the best physical condition he’s ever been in, although the changes in the game have demanded that improvement.
“The fitness requirements are now so high that I’ve got my fitness to a place I didn’t think I could get to. Lockdown helped with that. I’m the lightest, fittest, strongest and fastest I’ve ever been. Even compared to what I was at the [2015] World Cup, I’m better than I was but that’s the game – if I didn’t do that, I’d be miles behind.
“You look at guys like Frank Murphy and Andrew Brace in Ireland, how fit those guys are. The aesthetic look on the pitch has completely changed over the years. You have to be fit and look fit. The top referees are in incredible nick and they look like part of the game, they fit in. They’re not as big as players but they don’t stick out as badly as a ref from 1995 would.”
Doyle explains that he has gone from running around four kilometres per game to 10 kilometres per match in recent years. And it’s not like running a slow, steady 10k – this involves accelerating, sprinting, decelerating in a repeated cycle. So being very fit is essential.
“High-speed running blurs your vision, so you have to have an ability to control your running speed in order to process things under fatigue,” explains Doyle. “Your eyes need an anchor point so if you work hard early and can slow down as you get to the breakdown, you can make better decisions. If you could stand still and referee, you would make better decisions.”
An Irish referee working with the RFU has always been something of a curiosity for rugby fans, particularly when he refereed Irish teams.
Back in 2018, the EPCR had to go as far as making a statement insisting that Doyle’s appointment to referee Munster v Racing 92 in the Champions Cup semi-finals was “appropriate” after it had come under scrutiny in some quarters.
“I had ref’d Munster six weeks before that!” says Doyle with a laugh. “I had already done Munster v Racing earlier that season at Thomond Park. I had ref’d all the provinces home and away.
“You could be refereeing your family but you have a job to do. It’s the same for coaches or players going back to where they used to play or coach. I think people make more of it than it actually is.”
So how did Doyle end up with the RFU? He explains that “it wasn’t about leaving Ireland suddenly or any fallout, it’s just how life evolves.”
Growing up in Dublin, he was a scrum-half with Terenure College and Terenure College RFC – where his uncle, Marty, is now the president.
Doyle’s father, Terry, who passed away in 2010, was once the president of Leinster’s Association of Referees, but it wasn’t until JP moved to London to study teaching at St Mary’s University in Twickenham that his refereeing journey really began.
He was playing with St Mary’s but also started to referee a game each week for £50 a pop and things just picked up speed. Soon he was doing English Championship games, topping up his teacher’s wages to the tune of £1,000 a week.
When Tony Spreadbury retired towards the end 2007, Doyle got a tap on the shoulder to become a full-time professional referee and, putting teaching on hold, he got going in 2008.
Now, he glances around his family’s home in London and can see one of his 2015 World Cup jerseys framed on the wall. He has kept match balls from every final he has done across the course of 12 years in which he has been involved in around 500 senior games.
Along the way, Doyle has been well-liked for the good-humoured, engaged approach he brings out on the pitch, which is clearly his true personality.
“If you look back to my games from 2012 maybe up until 2016, when you’re trying to fit into what they wanted, I was trying to be something I probably wasn’t,” admits Doyle.
“Maybe that was the advice I was receiving but the reality is you’re always better in your natural state. I do not believe you should ever make fun of a player or laugh at a player, but you should always, always laugh along with a situation.”
Doyle says he loves the psychology of the working relationship with players and coaches, something that gets tested by every referee’s decision-making.
“Players don’t remember what games I’ve refereed them in, they remember how I treated them… ‘He’s a bastard, he’s ok, or – god forbid – I actually like him’.
“Coaches care what you did. They will remember what games you did because the results are so much more important to the coach. That runs through all sports.
“It’s a bit like school teaching. It’s my job to care about the players. Other referees argue with me on this, saying, ‘The players don’t care, they’ll try to get one over on you’ but so do pupils! They might really like the teacher but they’ll definitely put one over on you.
“The coaches are the parents. They’ll remember the time you crossed their child!”
Doyle says the in-depth refereeing reports that coaches like Joe Schmidt are famous for have never presented any issue. The demands on referees to analyse their performances down to every minor detail mean he has invariably already done the same.
They might disagree on a decision but Doyle outlines that such failure to reach consensus is all in the game.
“Rugby can be really grey,” says Doyle. “You can look at a breakdown and say ‘OK, I gave a rolling away penalty there but I could have given holding on.’
“It could have literally been a 50/50 that went either way and I have to be able to accept that, yes, I gave the right decision but there’s another way of doing it.
“The only way of assessing the 50/50s is ‘How did I make the decision and did I make it the same way across the 80 minutes of the game?’ You have to have consistency to what you applied.”
Though he’s no longer with the RFU, Doyle is very much still in the thick of it. On the day we speak, he has already had two other referees around for coffee to discuss the weekend’s action and some of the big decisions.
His enthusiasm for digging into the details underlines that this has all been a true labour of love for Doyle.
There’s obvious disappointment at how things ended with the RFU but he’s excited to see what comes next.
“There are very few sides of the game I haven’t seen, but maybe there’s one more side to see yet.”
Doesn’t matter lads my kids are out the back. One of them is pretending to be Hendrick and the other Brady. That’s what it’s all about the next generation are inspired. Roll on the World Cup
Super comment Tweed. Go out to the kids & pretend to be Martin O Neil.
Never a truer word said …The only difference between us and them is we had the Italia 90 sticker album :)
Comment on the week in my eyes Tweed. Fair fecks.
And kids playing football on the streets is very important
I pretended to be David Beckham for a while, but at 59 my neighbours threatened to send for the men with the straightjackets and have be locked up if I didn’t cop on.
I grew up with Robbie Brady and remember pretending to be Duff, Keane, etc. – you never know!
Great 45 minutes. We were either tired of just not awake for the second half. Bright future though. Brady is too good of a player to have in the championship also.
As long as he doesn’t join another relegation certs
45 mins is not enough. And professionals should not have the excuse for being tired!
Great is Leicester went for him
The French lads had a 3 day extra advantage on since the last game (which is odd in any major finals in itself). I’m not using that as any excuse but to me it was a factor in the 2nd half. Griezeman showing why he’s world class didn’t help either of course.
Tired me arse. The back four Martin changed to for Italy was never seriously challenged for that game. For such an experienced manager to leave those four in place for today was a major mistake. And a touch of believing his own hype perhaps like for the Belgium game. The first 45 mins was the best I have seen an Irish team team ever – superb – but the defence wasn’t really challenged. 15 mins later – they were destroyed (and lets be honest and forget the glorious defeat stuff Keane rallied against over the years).
O’Shea would have added huge experience today. Both goals were bad bad defending. The pressure told. After 55 mins O’Neill should have taken one if the centre backs off or Ward – and sent some experience in there. All in all – a good tournament but O’Neill & Keane imho were found wanting when the going got tough
I hope I am nut being unfair but…..
No you’re right. We should’ve made changes and it was clear they were needed looking at the second goal but too late then.
Lavbeer, to be honest, whatever :-) It’s easy to have an opinion but we made it hard for a better team to beat us and sure they’re probably giving out too that it was so difficult. What-ifs, buts and maybe’s … I like this team and I like what they have done. They’ll surely with this management team have taken a lot from it and the future is optimistic.
I questioned him leaving Duffy in at O’Shea’s expense, and think he got it wrong (hindsight is wonderful and all that), but in reality, the selection was pretty much bang on
David Thomas I totally agree they are well paid to get fit, they have access to personal trainers, all the physio’s they want. All they have to do is kick a ball how hard is that. There are kids & parents in every town in Ireland doing this for NO PAY. If they are not fit & get tired after playing football for approx 90 min every few days then get another job. Give someone else a chance that can kick a ball for 90 min every few days without getting tired. Now lets all the red clicks start clicking.
I wish someone would shoot Dunphy. His latest scapegoat is Shane Duffy. He’ll be on his case for the next 2 years
And suddenly John o shea is a massive player!
Two centre backs going for the same ball is inexcusable at this level
No Jimmy but he has been in these situations much more than 2 young lads who did well bu no leadership at all. The winning goal was comical defending. i blame the manager thought who leaft a leader on the bench. He changed the team drastically for the italy game but didn’t tweak for this game. Lots of positives. The team lost to a better team but the goals were bad. But O’Neill made a rod for his own back.
O’Neill is getting off lightly here again today. He played for a 1-0 win from the 2nd minute. It was clear as day from early in the first half that we were getting tanked in midfield and defending so deep. The way he set us up to play sapped the players energy as chasing after French players with technique on the ball wore us down. We were lucky to lose 2-1 as they tore us apart again & again, especially down Wards side of the pitch. The win against was hugely emotional but it was back to reality today with a bang.
even O’Shea @ LB might have made a difference. Ward played a handful of this season – he wasn’t up to that pace. Did the last 5 goals we conceded come down that side?
Did any of ye ever play football lads? Dunphy prefers controversy, that’s how telly works. France have far more talent than we have, were much fresher, and had a ‘home’ game. And we still made them sweat for it and even threatened them at times. There are many reasons to be optimistic for world cup qualification matches.
Well done guys. Be proud
Well done lads everyone from the managers, the players and the supporters were fantastic. You all represented Ireland fabulously. We don’t make it easy to get into these championships, but when we do we definitely leave our mark. Congrats to the team.
I think we ten out of steam, pure and simple. The three day turnaround was a massive disadvantage.. Having said that, France could go on to win it, and we ran them close. I’m proud of them, even tho, right now, I’m massively disappointed.
I dont want to sound cringe or anything but I dont have words to describe how proud I am of the team, to go through all we did not just the Belgium game but all the qualifiers from that dramatic win in Georgia to the draw with Scotland we went through a lot but we came out of it good and went into the last 16 against on paper one of the top 3 teams in the tournament and gave them a good game and played some good football in the process, no shame at all with a last 16 exit and its all about getting back on the horse and be ready for Sebria in September!
Great effort by Ireland, we ran out of steam in the 2nd, sending off was fair but ultimately the last straw for an already tired team. Going forward there are great positives to be taken, if we believe, we can mix it with Europe’s best. Brady Hendrick Duffy Coleman long Randolph mc Carthy, certainly the future for Irish football is bright.
Yes, and I think young Jack Byrne could be a very interesting option for us in the near future.
Hendrick has been excellent for last few months. Derby Co need promotion or he needs out – but he did well. Why was he booked?
Did he kick the ball away perhaps?
Kicked the ball away when Pogba gave him the dead leg. Ref obviously thought he was time wasting. Harsh I thought
Stand up for the boys in green……
should’ve been our corner
The better team won on the day. We had a good 45 minutes but they just had that extra quality in the end.
The referee went in at half time and came out for the second half with a french shirt on
Sorry I can’t agree with that. Ref was fair.
Agreed
The ref was superb today
Bar that obvious corner, I agree. Good game, and I was worried about home team decisions.
We had one or two go our way too. Good ref. No complants.
Silly comment, Ref had a good day.
except for not awarding a corner just before the French scored. – I think France still would have won, but it’s nice to dream
ref let a few hard tackles go for both sides …… and he let the game flow …. and he gave a penalty against the home tea in the first minute ….a man with a balls !!!! Top ref. Wasn’t sure why he booked Hendrick though
Here here!
Let’s not stop the party until we welcome the boys in green home #COYBIG
Big improvement on 2012 euros, well done lads, head’s held high.
How about our few (!) Fans. Was that fair?
No but that didn’t loose us the game. We made some schoolboy errors particularly the second goal. No gripes France were better but we did brilliant.
Loose us the game – now that’s a schoolboy error.
Fair play it’s great that there’s always clowns available to point out a spelling error.
“We made some schoolboy errors” … “but we did brilliant” ….. ffs
In the overall context of getting out of a difficult group is what I was referring to as doing brilliantly.
Fair enough Neil. And I recognise and enjoyed that progress. But when the going got tough today …..
Very proud of them. Yes there were some mistakes but I’m not going to crucify them for it.
This is what Roy Keane talks about. No point having the best supporters in the world if the team can’t match it! But let’s clap ourselves on the back until the next party!
Exactly David, In truth our team was one of the worst at the Euros. Our defending was comically bad in 3 games, not one of our strikers had a shot on target nevermind score a goal. Our midfield was overrun by Sweden,Belgium & France in the 2nd half of each game. Our keeper had the best tournament of the lot.
Cannot fault the effort but sadly like Tardelli said we don’t have the intellectual side to our game. We played for a 1-0 win from the 2nd minute when we gat the penalty. Wasting time from that moment on was going to come back and bite us in the ass also. Our midfield was crap today, McCarthy had a good first half but again went to sleep for their first goal. The win against Italy only papered over the cracks in Irish Football. To defend so deep and invite the French on every time was madness, we gave away the ball so many times in every position. Coleman is brutal going forward in fact the whole team is!! Murphy had a good game as did Randolph but the rest were average at best. There is no player apart from Hoolihan who has a football brain.
Overall a good performance by the Irish team, but today Ireland were beaten by a French team with much more class and pace.
Great effort, some brilliant saves and they sadly just ran out of steam. Pity they couldn’t have kept the ball on the ground and in a control a bit more, there was a lot of loose play and a reversion to the primitive stuff. But they have provided us with great entertainment oer the days. The Italy game was a gem. Germans look best now
We don’t have many regularly playing premier footballers on the team apart from a few some of who were injured before the tournament. I think the team played well in the first half they went out of steam in the second half. Much better players years ago when we had a chance of winning the tournament.