William Derek Bevan (born 3 September 1947 in Clydach, Wales) is a Welsh international

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

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 ...

. Bevan refereed his first international match on 22 April 1984, the 1983–84 FIRA Trophy match between Italy and Romania. Bevan refereed a total of 11 Rugby World Cup games, beginning with two games at the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987 and three games at the

1991 Rugby World Cup The 1991 Rugby World Cup () was the second edition of the Rugby World Cup, and was jointly hosted by England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France: at the time, the five European countries who participated in the Six Nations Championship, Five Na ...

, including the final between Australia and England. At the

1995 Rugby World Cup The 1995 Rugby World Cup (), was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country. The World Cup was the first major sporting event to take place in ...

in South Africa, Bevan was in charge of three matches, including the opening match of the tournament and the semi-final between hosts South Africa and France, and was one of the touch judges for the final. At a banquet held after the conclusion of the tournament, the president of the South African Rugby Union,

Louis Luyt Louis Luyt (18 June 1932 – 1 February 2013) was a South African business tycoon and politician, and one-time rugby administrator. Having been a rugby player as a young man, Luyt went on to become a businessman. He founded Triomf Fertiliser a ...

, described Bevan as "the most wonderful referee in the world" and "the outstanding referee in the World Cup" before attempting to present him with a gold watch estimated to be worth £1000 GBP. Bevan's response was to walk out along with the other officials present, and later said "'It was something I could have done without...It could be misconstrued, and if that is the case, it leaves a bitter taste." He refereed three games at 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 ...

, hosted in his native Wales, including the semi-final between Australia and South Africa. His final international appearance was in the 2000 Six Nations game between Ireland and Italy. Later that year, he was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the

2000 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours were announced on 19 June 2000 to celebrate the Queen's Official Birthday in the United Kingdom,United Kingdom: Australia (12 June), New Zealand (13 June),New ZealandThe Queen's Birthday Honours 2000(13 June 2000), ' ...

. He held the Welsh record for number of international matches refereed until 2013, when

Nigel Owens Nigel Owens, (born 18 June 1971) is a Welsh former international rugby union referee, who retired in December 2020 after a 23-year career. He previously held the world record for the most test matches refereed and was one of five international ...

surpassed his total of 44 international games. At club level, Bevan's career highlights include taking charge of the 1997 European Cup final between

Brive Brive-la-Gaillarde (; Limousin dialect of ), commonly known as simply Brive, is a commune of France. It is a sub-prefecture and the largest city of the Corrèze department. It has around 46,000 inhabitants, while the population of the agglome ...

and

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

and refereeing the

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup (), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the most prestigious of the cup competitions ...

final on four occasions. Since his retirement from refereeing, Bevan has worked as a

Television Match Official Rugby union match officials are responsible for enforcing the laws of rugby union during a match. "Every match is under the control of match officials who consist of the referee and two touch judges or assistant referees." Further officials can be ...

(TMO). His final game as a TMO was in May 2016. Outside rugby, Bevan worked as a training officer for BP's chemicals division in

Port Talbot Port Talbot (, ) is a town and community (Wales), community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, situated on the east side of Swansea Bay, approximately from Swansea. The Port Talbot Steelworks covers a large area of land which d ...

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