Morrison goes High
Ed Morrison will take over from Colin High as England’s manager of elite referees when High retires in June 2008.
High, a former Test referee, will be retiring after six years in the post. He will be 66. He was an RFU top 10 referee from 1979 to 1993. High refereed three Tests. In 1987 he was appointed to two – France vs Wales and Wales vs the USA. In 1990 he refereed the Test between Scotland and New Zealand which the All Blacks just won in Auckland.
On his retirement in 1993 from active refereeing, High joined England’s International Referee selection committee and became its chairman in 1995 for two years. In 1997 he was employed by the RFU as its Referee Development Manager and in 2001 took up his current position as Elite Referee manager.
Ed Morrison, who retired from refereeing in 2001, is England’s most capped referee with 38 Tests, including the 1995 World Cup Final in Johannesburg. He has been England’s elite referee development officer. His place will not be taken by Tony Spreadbury who refereed his first Test in 1990 and who retired from international refereeing after the 2007 World Cup. Spreadbury will join another former Test referee as an elite referee development officer, Brian Campsall.
Making the announcement of the changes, Rob Andrew, England’s director of elite rugby, said: “Colin has been an outstanding member of the Elite Rugby and Referee unit. His enthusiasm and knowledge of the game has been instrumental in English referees being widely regarded as some of the best in the world.
“The system of post-match referee performance appraisals Colin introduced has also ensured that all of our officials are accountable with the aim of helping them to improve their performance and their development.”
High said “It has been a privilege to work for the RFU. We have some world class people in the organisation and in particular in refereeing. I have been fortunate to be in a position to lead refereeing into the professional era and it’s thanks to the vision and investment of people at the RFU that we are able to produce world class referees. I was delighted that four of our officials were selected for the last RWC in France.
“I have been involved in refereeing for 30 years and it will undoubtedly be a huge wrench but it’s the right time to go and I firmly believe that in Ed, Brian Campsall and Tony Spreadbury that we have a team who will take refereeing in this country forward even further.”
