George Clancy

Who is George Clancy?

George Clancy is an international rugby union referee. He is attached to Bruff RFC. He refereed the opening game of the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand on 9 September 2011 between the hosts and Tonga.

In the New Zealand vs South Africa test match of 2011, he controversially ignored the laws regarding the use of television match officials and their adjudication with respect to play prior to the ball crossing the plane of the try line. This led to an All Black try being disallowed for a forward pass which occurred prior to the ball going over the try line in contravention of the IRB laws at the time.

In the 2013 test match between Australia and England, he was subject to controversy after he and his touch judge failed to see Mike Brown had his foot in touch during the build-up to an English try.