Hollie Davidson receives referee cap
02/12/2025 10:30 AM
HOLLIE DAVIDSON – a trailblazer for female match officiating – became the second recipient of a Scottish Rugby referee cap at a presentation ceremony held at Murrayfield earlier today.
The 32-year-old follows Allan Hosie – who refereed 22 internationals between 1973 and 1984, the later became Chair of the Five Nations as it was then known in 1997, and the 116th President of the Scottish Rugby Unions between 2002 and 2003 – in receiving this recently created recognition for Scottish match officials.
"Hollie is an outstanding referee, following in the footsteps of our finest match officials. She exudes a calm authority and allows the players to take centre stage,” said SRU President Keith Wallace, who made the presentation.
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"Like so many referees, Hollie took up the whistle after injury ended her playing career. While a dodgy shoulder meant her dream of becoming a Scotland player at scrum-half was thwarted, she is now scaling the heights as a Test match referee. And I firmly believe there is more to come from Hollie."
The cap is awarded to living referees who have controlled a Test match involving a Tier 1 union in the men’s game. A further presentation will take place at Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium later this month to Davidson's colleague, Mike Adamson, while a further eight Scotland international referees, will receive their referee caps.
"We all know that without the referee, we have no game,” added Wallace. “I am very proud that we have extended our retrospective caps project – which has seen players in the male and female game gain the ultimate recognition – to now include referees.
"Our research in this area is ongoing and we may yet choose to extend the scope of referee recognition."
Davidson – who had taken charge of 11 men's international matches at all levels of the game and 24 women's international matches – said: "I'm honoured to receive this cap and recognition from Scottish Rugby. There are a lot of people behind the scenes that have helped and guided me to where I am today, so this is a thanks to them as well."
Davidson's referee highlights include:
- Women's Rugby World Cup final in 2022 NZ v Eng
- RWC 7s Final in 2022
- Commonwealth Games 7s Final in 2022
- Olympic 7s in 2021
- Debut in EPCR Champions Cup this season
- Assistant referee in Rugby Championship and Men's 6 Nations
- Refereed Women's 6 Nations title deciders (England v France)
- Refereed U20 6N and U20 JWC in 2023
- URC QF referee in season 2023/24 – Munster v Ospreys
- Became first female referee to officiate a Tier 1 men's team when she took charge of Portugal v Italy in June 2022.Has also officiated South Africa and Ireland in their Test matches v Portugal and Fiji respectively last year.
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