Fitzgibbon: New Test referee

Peter Fitzgibbon of Ireland has been appointed to the two Tests between Japan and the USA in November. He will then become a brand new Test referee.

The 33-year-old Munsterman has not been to Japan before. Refereeing has taken him to several parts of the world, but not to Japan. That all means that November will be an exciting time for the man from Limerick, a full-time employee of the Irish RFU.

It will not be the only bit of the Far East he will be visiting. On All Saints day he will be an assistant referee to Alan Lewis when Australia and New Zealand meet there in the fourth (and last) Bledisloe Cup match of 2008, a bit of a dead rubber because the All Blacks are sure of retaining the cup but still a great and interesting occasion. They all - Fitzgibbon, Lewis, George Clancy, the other assistant referee, and the TMO, Giulio De Santis of Italy, jet back to Europe. On 8 November Fitzgibbon is the TMO to Clancy at Twickenham when England play the Pacific Islands. Then he is back in the saddle again and off back to the Far East, this time to hospitable Japan.

The first Test is on 16 November in Nagoya, Japan's fourth largest city and situated on Honshu Island, and the second on 22 November at Prince Chichibu Stadium in Tokyo. It's a long, long way from Limerick. He will have flown some 40 000 kilometres for four rugby matches.

Peter Anthony Fitzgibbon was born in Limerick on 9 March 1975, he went to school at St Nessan's Community College in Limerick and then to the University of Limerick. He lives in Limerick, married two months ago to Sandra. Oh, unsurprisingly, St Nessan was from Limerick, a learned man, a disciple of St Patrick and the founder abbot of a huge monastery in Limerick. 

The school, nondenominational, but with Christian values and a representative of the Archdiocese of Limerick on its board, and coed was founded in 1975, received its smart new buildings in 2007 and has about 360 pupils though in the mid-nineties it had nearly a thousand. It's motto is in Irish, which like religion is a core subject at the school is FÁS, FOGHLAIM, FORBAIRT, growth, learning and development.

Fitzgibbon played his first game of rugby there (at Under-13level). The most famous past pupils in rugby terms are Eddie Halvey (Irish International) and current Munster star Keith Earls.

He also played for Thomond RFC and for the University. Thomond RFC was founded in 1944 in the Thomondgate area of Limerick city in the shadow of the famous Thomond Park, now a rebuilt 28 000-seater. The club moved to its current grounds at Liam Fitzgerald Park in 1984. Fitzgibbon played with the club from Under-13 up to my early 20s and still goes to see as many club games as possible although with a busy refereeing schedule it proves difficult at times. Keith Earls would have first handled a rugby ball at Fitzgerald Park.

But then came 2000.

In 2000 Fitzgibbon took up refereeing and joined  Munster Association of Referees "because I felt I could do a good job and make a contribution to the game. He has done that.

It all started to happen on the international stage in 2006 when he refereed at the IRB's Under-19 World Championship in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. In that year he refereed his first Magners League match in the competition organised for the three Celtic countries. In 2007 he refereed his first Heineken Cup match - Cardiff Blues vs Bristol. In 2008 Fitzgibbon refereed at the IRB Junior World Championship Wales 2008, refereeing the Final New Zealand vs England. Then he was appointed to the IRB's panel of assistant referees and television match officials, for active referees the second highest panel in the world.

So far refereeing has taken the Irishman to Wales, Scotland, England, France, Italy, Portugal and Dubai, and now he is to spread his wings to the Far East.

Obviously he has not dome it on his own but says that those who helped him are "too numerous to mention but the IRFU structure provides a clear pathway for ambitious and talented referees". Ireland certainly has top referees.

Till recently Fitzgibbon was a sales representative with National/Alamo Car Rental, but since June 2008 he has worked full-time with the IRFU since June 2008 as leisure rugby referee officer, his job overseeing the recruitment and training of referees for Tag Rugby in Ireland.

Refereeing top rugby is not a leisurely occupation.