 Doyle in 2019 | |||||||||||||||
| Birth name | John Paul Doyle | ||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 3 August 1979 | ||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Dublin, Ireland | ||||||||||||||
| School | Terenure College | ||||||||||||||
| University | St Mary's University College, Twickenham | ||||||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Full time referee | ||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||
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John Paul "JP" Doyle (born 3 August 1979) is an Irish born rugby union referee. Doyle was one of ten full-time rugby union referees employed by the English Rugby Football Union[3] until his redundancy in August 2020.[4] 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.[5]
Doyle was born in Dublin, Ireland,[6] the son of Terry Doyle,[7] later President (2006–7) of the Association of Referees Leinster Branch of the IRFU.[8]
He played scrum-half at school for Terenure College, then Terenure College RFC and St Mary's University College, Twickenham[9] where he trained to be a secondary school teacher.[10] He was forced to stop playing due to an injury and surgery on his back in 2002.[10]
Doyle started his refereeing career with the Association of Referees Leinster Branch of the IRFU[7] in 2001 and joined the London Society of RFU Referees in January 2003. He was promoted to the South East Group later in 2003 and to the National Panel in 2006.[11] He refereed the final of the Daily Mail Under 18 Schools Cup at Twickenham Stadium in 2007[12] and the EDF Energy National Trophy Final in 2008.[13]
He was appointed as a trainee full-time official on 1 September 2008.[11] 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 and Pacific Rim Rugby Championship tournaments.[14]
He officiated at the 2009 IRB Nations Cup,[15] the 2010, 2011 and 2012 IRB Junior World Championship, and the 2010–12 European Nations Cup First Division.
He has regularly refereed matches in the RFU Championship, Premiership and the LV= Cup including important Final matches.
Doyle refereed his first European Challenge Cup match in the 2007–08 season on 18 January 2008 when he officiated at Dax verses Calvisano pool game.[1] His first Heineken Cup game followed in the 2010–11 season on 17 October 2010 (the pool game between Perpignan and Benetton Treviso).[1]
On 27 May 2014, it was announced that Doyle would referee the 2014 Aviva Premiership final, his first as referee.[16]
On 25 September 2015, Doyle refereed the 2015 Rugby World Cup Pool C match between Argentina and Georgia.[2]
Doyle refereed the opening match of the 2016 Six Nations Championship (between France and Italy).[17]
