Exclusive: The story of Joy Neville, the only female official at the 2023 Rugby World Cup

Joy Neville has is known for firsts when it comes to men's rugby. Photo / Getty Images

Joy Neville is the first female match official at the Men’s Rugby World Cup in France – a role she calls a massive honour. The Irish television match official (TMO) talks to Bonnie Jansen about reaching this point in her career, working in a male-dominated environment and the increasing amount of referee abuse.

After hanging your boots up following a mammoth 70 appearances for your nation’s top rugby team, most would put their feet up and celebrate their international career. But for one Irish player, she had an unrelenting urge to get back on the grass, committing to a new line of duty in a code she loves dearly.

Joy Neville played No 8 for Ireland for more than a decade, captaining the side in a decorated career. When she retired in 2013, she had been a member of the first Ireland women’s team to win the Six Nations, Grand Slam and Triple Crown titles.

Shortly after stepping away from the game, Neville received a call from Dave McHugh – a three-time Irish Rugby World Cup referee – asking if she would be interested in refereeing.

“Coming to me with an idea and an opportunity that would demand even more commitment than what I’ve done in over a decade,” Neville said, she shut down the idea.

Eight months later she was bored, missing rugby and ready to take up the refereeing offer. However, before committing, she asked her friend “high up” in rugby one crucial question: “Do you think it’s possible for a female to referee top level in Ireland?”

She said the man, who was in his mid-50s, responded: “Joy, not in my lifetime, no.”

“I kind of said ‘right, cool, thanks for that’, and we finished our conversations and I put the phone down – picked it up to Dave McHugh and said, ‘yes, I’m in’.”

Fast forward to 2023 and Neville becomes the first female to officiate at a Men’s Rugby World Cup.

Neville is the first female to referee at a Men's Rugby World Cup. Photo / Getty

Representing 50 per cent of the population and inspiring a completely new generation of young girls, Neville describes her position as a “massive honour”.

“Sometimes I probably don’t understand the magnitude of me being here as the first [woman].”

Neville is among 26 tournament match officials from nine countries. There are three other Irish refs alongside her.

“For me, it’s about being here, representing myself, my family and my friends and performing, because this is the world stage.”

As a TMO at the tournament, Neville is responsible for evaluating possible penalties and tries, through a screen and deliberating with the on-field referees.

“I feel very blessed, honoured [that] all the hard work has paid off. I feel proud of how I’ve gone about my business and haveput in the performances necessary.”

But this gig is not her first major rodeo. Neville has been involved in two Women’s World Cups on-field, including refereeing the 2021 semi-final between the Black Ferns and France, and the 2017 final between the Black Ferns and England – both of which Neville said are career highlights.

Refereeing at the 2021 Women's Rugby World Cup was one of Neville's career highlights. Photo / Getty Images

The 40-year-old is also known for her firsts as a female rugby referee in the men’s game. In 2016, Neville was the first woman to officiate in a professional European rugby match, serving as an assistant in a European Rugby Challenge Cup game.

She became the first female to referee matches in the national leagues of Ireland, Wales and Italy including the British and Irish Cup, the European Rugby Challenge Cup and the Pro14. She also was the first woman to referee a top-level men’s rugby union match in the United Kingdom. In 2017 she won the World Rugby Referee of the Year.

Neville reflected on her career, making her way up as a woman. She said “100 per cent” she’s been treated as equal along the way.

“In a male-dominated environment, you can’t overthink things. Because, you know, at the detriment of putting too much pressure [on yourself], not really allowing yourself to concentrate on what the most important thing is.

“I’m genuine in saying it’s a very good group of people.”

Neville said while on maternity leave and after having a baby boy, she was supported by World Rugby and they gave her an opportunity as TMO as she worked on her return to the pitch.

She said she enjoyed working alongside the referees in France. “The group challenge each other and everyone has a voice, and I think that’s really important.

“While it’s not always easy to be the only female, I see my teammates and the efforts they make me feel to be included as much as possible because I earned the right to feel that – through credibility, through performances.”

Neville said she’d like to say she’s always delivered good performances, but in any environment, it’s up and down.

“I’ve always tried to be as consistent as possible,” she admitted, acknowledging the fact that referee abuse has intensified over the last few years, especially on social media.

“Within this environment, within any international environment, it can be quite unforgiving if you don’t perform to a certain standard.

“I think this is a very unique environment and unfortunately, particularly since Covid-19, people have really jumped on the keyboard wagon.

“My biggest gripe is the lack of accountability on social media platforms – which allows people to say whatever they want.

“It’s a slippery slope,” she said.

“I’m big and bold enough, and I’ve had a good bit of life experiences, I have very good support structures and I have good mental health, thankfully. But what I do worry about is people who don’t have [good] mental health or young people who don’t have good life experience that may see comments that’s been, you know, directed towards them.

“I do really worry about the culture that we’ve created within social media.”

Neville said she’s minimised exposing herself to the abuse by getting off social media – she hopes more people take individual action too.

Earning the right to work at this World Cup, Neville continues to inspire a new generation of young girls. Her advice: “Just love the sport.”

“I would really encourage people to give it a go, and I’d also encourage people, too.

”Unfortunately, there’s an unrealistic standard that says match officials to have perfect form.

“When you have that unrealistic expectation, it’s hard to keep everyone happy. So what I would say to young people is, and not just in relation to refereeing, but also life: you will make mistakes.

“The moment that you can break down those mistakes and understand the ‘why’, the better the opportunity to minimise them from happening again.

“The power, ability or even mind frame of taking the opportunity to make a negative into something positive whilst providing learning, further growth and personal development.”

Neville will serve as TMO, for the second time this Rugby World Cup as England face Japan, on Monday at 7am.