JP Doyle: My sacking sucked but I’ll survive
Neil Fissler finds out what’s next for referee JP Doyle after his American adventure
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.
It’s clear during the 25minute phone call with him that Doyle is happy with whatever life throws his way.
After the RFU shock, he soon returned to the classroom teaching PE at Claires Court School in Maidenhead. He says: “I got made redundant in August, and by the start of September, I was back in school. I don’t believe in sitting around being grumpy and thinking everything is unfair.
“I had a baby and a 20-month old at the time. You have just got to crack on. There is no choice here; get on with it.
“It absolutely sucked, but if it didn’t happen to me, it was happening to someone else. You wouldn’t wish it upon anyone.
“It’s a case of what do you do now. I’ve got a degree in teaching, so teach. I had always kept my hand in and taught for the last ten years, so my CV was up to date.
“I had been in everything from prep schools around the Richmond and Twickenham area, Hampton School, Harrow School, I had been in a lot of schools teaching.”
Doyle’s last match in the Premiership was Saracens defeating Leicester Tigers at Allianz Park on March 7 in the final weekend before Covid forced the league to shut down.
When it returned, Doyle, who had refereed the 2014 Premiership Final and at the World Cup a year later, was out of a job.
Did he think it was the end for him in full-time refereeing?
“I guess so, but I didn’t know,” he says. “You wonder will a magic bus come and save me, but you think that must be me, I must be finished.
“I thought I might referee locally, but not many people get the Brian O’Driscoll exit route – and that wasn’t the one for me.
“I just kind of wore it on the chin and said there are a lot of people in the world hurting right now. I’ve just had a slight kick in the stomach and just have to take it and get on with my life.”
He took charge of games at the Bermuda Tens then that magic bus driven by Major League Rugby’s referee’s tsar Jonathan Caplin did arrive, asking if he fancied a move across the pond.
“I got a phone call from Jonathan after he heard I was no longer with the RFU and asked me would I consider coming out. He told me what an exciting venture it was.
“He told me what the opportunities were. My brother lives in Ottawa and is involved in refereeing over there. Originally I was going to base myself in Ottawa and work out of there.
“But then, as Covid kept going, it looked like the trip was never going to happen for all the reasons we know, but they then set us up in a place in Atlanta.
“So off I went to Atlanta at the start of April, and the wife and kids came out to join me in May. So I did 17 weeks of games in a row and then came back.”
League commissioner George Killebrew described Doyle’s arrival in the MLR as a gift from “heaven”, and Doyle is predicting big things for the game stateside.
“The style of rugby and rules that they had over there with one scrum reset and so on, means everybody was working towards a point in the future where the league could be successful.
“A big difference over there is how players speak to officials. In the US, it’s slightly different to other countries, so you have to engage with them differently.
“A bit more love and support on the pitch was needed. I learnt as I went along they respond really well to support.
“Over here, you have cynical play, don’t you? Certain teams play a brand of rugby that is closer to the line than others, but that isn’t the case in the US.
“That is not the way teams are set up to play. The game is really growing quickly out there, which is great to see.”
One thing is for sure Doyle is still keen to stay involved with the game and says he is available for the price of a pint and a pie in the clubhouse in the Perth area.
“I will definitely be involved with the local society from a foot soldier point of view. I’ll just be Joe nobody, turn up with my kit and do a game or an U12 game. It’s fine; rugby is rugby.
“I’ll be doing games in Scotland in a couple of weeks for sure. I’ll go down and get a pint and pie for a game. I am very cheap. I can ruin their weekend as quickly as anyone else’s,” he laughs.
“It sucked, but if it didn’t happen to me, it was happening to someone else”