John Pring

John Pring
MBE
Birth nameJohn Pym Gray Pring
Date of birth(1927-12-30)30 December 1927
Place of birthAuckland, New Zealand
Date of death10 March 2014(2014-03-10) (aged 86)
Place of deathNorthcote, Auckland, New Zealand
SpouseKathleen Shirley Pring (died 2021)
Occupation(s)Bank manager
Rugby union career
Refereeing career
Years Competition Apps
British & Irish Lions tours

John Pym Gray Pring MBE (30 December 1927 – 10 March 2014) was a New Zealand rugby union referee. His refereeing career spanned 40 years, and included controlling all four test matches between the All Blacks and the British Lions on their 1971 tour to New Zealand.[1] He was the first, and so far only, person to referee every test match in a Lions series.[2]

In the 1979 Queen's Birthday Honours, Pring was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for services to rugby refereeing.[3]

Pring died in the Auckland suburb of Northcote on 10 March 2014.[1][4] His wife, Kathleen, died in 2021.[5]

  1. ^ a b Gray, Wynne (19 March 2014). "Oliver uncomplicated on the field and in life". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
  2. ^ Dallaglio, Lawrence (2009). Lawrence Dallaglio's rugby tales. Hachette UK. p. 77. ISBN 9780755319855. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
  3. ^ "No. 47871". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 16 June 1979. p. 29.
  4. ^ "John Pring death notice". The New Zealand Herald. 12 March 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  5. ^ "Kathleen Pring death notice". The New Zealand Herald. 18 January 2021. Retrieved 18 January 2021.