Taizo goes to Twickenham
No.1 of 5 000
Taizo Hirabayashi of Japan is a touch judge at Twickenham on Saturday, as he was in Dublin last weekend. He is the top Japanese referee and the first to get onto the International Rugby Board's panels.
In 1995 there was a Japanese referee, Naoki Saito , at the World Cup in South Africa, when every participating country had at least one referee at the World Cup. Not all refereed but Naoki Saito did.
In those days there were no merit panels at the IRB. Now there are. And Taizo Hirabayashi has made it onto the second panel of referees and television match officials, which makes him one of the top 40 referees in the world, the only one from a so-called Tier 2 country.
In Japan there are 5 000 referees, and Taizo is the top one.
Taizo Hirabayashi was born on 24 April 1975 in sunny Miyazaki-city on the southeast Kyusyu, a subtropical city with the world's biggest indoor beach. He was educated there from primary school to high school. After leaving Miyazaki Omiya High School he went to Miyazaki Sangyo Keiei University where he read criminal law. He has two degrees from the university – one in criminal law and arts degree which qualifies him to teach Society, Politics and Philosophy.
Like all Japanese, he speaks English, partly because he studied it for ten years but mostly through rugby as a player and then as a referee in Australia.
After all the studying, he is now a full-time referee and married to Yoko. They have "one golden child", an 18-month-old son called Sonoa, a name which means Asian sky. They live in Saitama Prefecture, an hour from the centre of Tokyo. Taizo says they are lucky to live in a house.
Taizo played rugby from the age of five at the Miyazaki Rugby School. "My father also played rugby and he put me into the rugby school." He also learnt to love rugby then, with Five Nations rugby always on national television. His Australian experience was from 1996 to 1998 when he played scrumhalf for the GPS Gallopers in Brisbane. "My good team-mate were Matt Cockbain, Tim Atkinson, John Moss and Ryan Constable." And he played a lot of Sevens. In fact rugby is his absorbing interest. His hobby is collecting rugby jerseys and he is an avid watcher of rugby videos – around 300 a year.
And his free time? "I stay at home with my wife and my son and our dog. We have a beagle called Willy. We bought him (US$500) and named him after Jonny Wilkinson because he was born in 2003."
The refereeing went along with the playing. "I started refereeing straight after graduating from high school in March 1994 at the age of 18." "My province is Japan East Rugby Union which is the oldest rugby union in Japan."
There are five grades of referee in Japan. Taizo is in the top grade. There are, naturally, people who helped him along the way – Naoki Saito, who was my personal referee coach when I was at development level over five years", Nobby Mashimo who is the current CEO of the Japan RFU, and Japan's referees development officer, Harry Miyahara. "I learned a lot from Barry Leask from Australia."
Travelling? "This UK tour is my 41st travel to overseas with rugby commitment. I have been to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, the UK, France, USA, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Guam, Tonga, and the United Arab Emirates so far."
Role models? Barry Leask, Andrew Cole, Scott Young who are from Queensland, Paul Honiss and Alain Rolland of active referees, and Steven Hilditch, Paddy O'Brien, Colin Hawke, Brian Campsall, Jim Fleming, Derek Bevan who were all stars when I was a teenager".
Highlights? In 2005 he was at the World Under-19 Championship in South Africa and in 2006 at the World Under-21 Championship in France. This year, too, he refereed his first Test – Sri Lanka vs China in a World Cup qualifier. He has had a lot of experience of touch-judging at Test level.
What kind of referee does he want to be? "Like Water, like the Air. like a Father."
His own father gave him two bits of advice:
" Everybody can achieve things if they go slowly." And "The head is not used only for wearing a hat."
With thought and planning Taizo hopes to move quickly along his chosen path as rugby referee.
