Monday, March 15, 2010
WHO is Paddy O’Brien, the man who came in for so much comment in the wake of the Ireland’s win over Wales on Saturday?
In spite of his Irish sounding name, O’Brien is a New Zealander, who is employed as the International Rugby Board’s Referee Manager.
After his playing career, he turned to refereeing in 1984 and spent 17 years in the New Zealand police force.
His first Test was the Hong Kong-Korea World Cup qualifier in 1994 and he turned professional two years later.
He became New Zealand’s most "capped" referee in 2003 when he took charge of the France-Wales Six Nations match. It was his 27th international game.
O’Brien may be best remembered for his refereeing of the crucial final Test of the Lions tour of Australia in 2001 and on retirement has been no stranger to controversy.
In 2007, he defended Englishman Wayne Barnes for his handling of the World Cup game in which France shocked New Zealand when most of his countrymen believed the All Blacks had been on the wrong end of some poor decisions. As recently as last November, he was forced to apologise to Australian ref Stuart Dickinson and the Australian Rugby Union after publicly criticising Dickinson’s performance in the New Zealand-Italy tie.
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