Chris White (born 16 July 1963) is a retired English international rugby

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...

. He was one of England's top rugby referees and has refereed at three

Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...

s. He started refereeing at 17 years of age and joined the Gloucester Referees Society in 1990. White was one of 16 referees appointed to the

1999 Rugby World Cup The 1999 Rugby World Cup () was the fourth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial international rugby union championship. It was the first Rugby World Cup to be held in the sport's History of rugby union#The professional era, professional era. Four a ...

in Wales. He was also again selected as a referee at the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England national rugby union team, England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispu ...

in Australia. He refereed the semi-final of this competition between New Zealand and Australia. He was subsequently in charge of the 2005 Grand Slam decider between Wales and Ireland. During a 2007 Six Nations match between Italy and Wales, White ended the game after Wales, believing they had time to score a match winning try, kicked for touch from a penalty. White later apologised for the misunderstanding. White was selected for the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup () was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by F ...

in France, his third World Cup. White retired from test match rugby in 2010, refereeing 50 test matches in total. He has also taken charge of three

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

Finals, refereeing the 2002/03, 2004/05 and 2005/06 finals. In total, White refereed 53 Heineken Cup matches, as well as 9 in the

Amlin Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception i ...

. White took on the role of RFU National Referee Academy manager in September 2010, performing this role whilst continuing to referee in the Aviva Premiership. White's 190th and final Aviva Premiership game was on 24 September between Worcester and Harlequins. His final match before retirement took place on 3 December 2011, when he refereed the Help4Heroes Rugby Challenge between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. White retired after this game to take up his role as National Referee Academy manager on a full-time basis.

References

External links

Chris White
on wrc2003.irb.com
Chris White
on ERCrugby.com

IRB.com * ttps://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/focus/2004/03/chris_white.shtml The life of rugby referee Chris WhiteBBC.co.uk
Six Nations Headlines
BBC Sport {{DEFAULTSORT:White, Chris 1967 births Living people English rugby union referees Rugby World Cup referees Six Nations Championship referees European Rugby Champions Cup EPCR Challenge Cup referees Premiership Rugby referees The Rugby Championship referees