Michael Stone (born 5 July 1949) is an Australian former rugby league referee. Stone began his refereeing career in the Western Suburbs Junior Rugby League in 1978. He was subsequently graded to referee in the

New South Wales Rugby League The New South Wales Rugby League Ltd (NSWRL) is an Australian rugby league football competition operator in rugby league in New South Wales, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Co ...

(NSWRL), gaining his first first-grade match in 1981. Stone controlled 206 first-grade matches between 1981 and 1989. He then became a referees' coach from 1991 to 2008, being the coaching co-ordinator from 1992 to 1999. In 1983, Stone was involved in an unusual series of events that saw three different referees required to control a first grade match between Easts and Canterbury-Bankstown. Stone was carried from the field with a leg injury after four minutes. The reserve-grade referee took over, but experienced cramps at halftime. The third-grade referee then finished the match. In 1986, Stone was responsible for the quickest send-off in rugby league, having dismissed

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilitated by ...

player Peter Kelly for a head-high tackle in the first tackle of the match. In the same year, he refereed the first tryless grand final of the modern era, when

Parramatta Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...

defeated Canterbury-Bankstown 4-2. In game 2 of the 1988 State of Origin series, Stone enraged the local Brisbane crowd when he sent

Wally Lewis Walter James Lewis AM (born 1 December 1959) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and coached in the 1980s and 1990s. He became a commentator for television coverage of the sp ...

to the sin-bin for five minutes. The crowd showered the ground with beer cans, and the match had to be stopped until order was restored and the ground was cleared of rubbish.

Career highlights

*1986 – City vs Country,

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

*1987 –

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

City vs Country Origin City vs Country Origin was an annual Australian rugby league football match that took place in New South Wales between City and Country representative sides. The City side represented the Sydney metropolitan area. While technically it was Syd ...

, State of Origin, PNG vs NZ, State of Origin Exhibition (USA),

*1988 – State of Origin,

*1989 –

, State of Origin

Honours and awards

*1989 - Life Membership of the NSW Rugby League Referees Association, Trophy for Outstanding Contribution to the NSWRLRA *2006 - Namesake of the Michael Stone Medal, awarded annually to the NSWRLRA member judged the "referee's referee"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stone, Mick Year of birth missing (living people) 1949 births People from New South Wales Australian rugby league referees