Ref Doyle available ‘for a pie and a pint'

Neil Fissler finds out what’s next for referee JP Doyle after his American adventure

- Neil Fissler

JP Doyle walked off the pitch at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum after refereeing the 2021 Major League Rugby Final, knowing that it could be his last game as a professional referee. If the stadium that has twice hosted the Olympic Games, the Super Bowl, and the World Series is the venue for his professional swan-song, Doyle, 42, is very relaxed about it.

He is preparing to move his wife and two young children to Scotland to start a new life, finding himself in the same position he was when made redundant by the RFU last August.

He doesn’t rule out returning to America next year, but it would have to fit into the jobs he and his wife have found teaching at Craigclowan Prep School in Perth.

“Potentially, I am in a position where I could go back to the US, but I’d have to work it out with a million different factors and everything else,” said Doyle. “The genuine answer is I don’t know. I am in the position that I was in before. Let’s see how things go over the next wee while.

“That is maybe how I felt coming off after the Major League Rugby final, maybe that’s it, or maybe it’s not. But it is great not to know that you are not making some big arse deal out of it.

“It either was, or it wasn’t. If it was, what a wonderful game to finish on, and if it wasn’t, we’ll go again. You are only a god damn ref. Get on with it.

“Sometimes, you have to accept where your place in things is. If there is more to come, wouldn’t that be cool and brilliant, but if there isn’t, that’s okay. I’ve had a run.”

The Dubliner had officiated 180 Premiership games before he was summarily sacked by the RFU.

But he says he couldn’t afford to feel sorry for himself as he had a young family to feed – not that he would have anyway.