The top referee now enjoys a popularity rarely afforded to officials after making history at the Six Nations
Hollie Davidson now has a huge rugby profile after making Six Nations history(Image: Hollie Davidson/ Instagram)
History being made at the Six Nations is nothing new, with records tumbling and new benchmarks set practically year on year.
While it’s usually the players at the centre of such accomplishments, however, this year’s championship saw a referee write herself into tournament history, as Hollie Davidson became the first female official to take charge of a men’s Six Nations game. All eyes were on the 33-year-old when the teams took to the field at the Aviva Stadium for Ireland’s clash with Italy last month, as she reached the latest milestone of her impressive refereeing career to date.
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Davidson – who began her rugby career playing as a scrum-half and went on to represent the Scotland Women U20s side – is no stranger to making history, having become Scotland’s first full-time professional female referee in 2017 after quitting her banking job.
She has gone on to become the first female assistant referee in the men’s Six Nations as well as the first woman to referee a men’s European final and officiate Test matches involving the Springboks and All Blacks.
In September last year, Davidson continued her remarkable rise as she received the World Rugby Referee Award – and it’s clear that the official now enjoys a level of celebrity that her peers could only dream of.
Her new-found fame was confirmed when she walked out onto the field as an assistant referee for the URC match between Edinburgh and Scarlets last month, with supporters outside the ground mobbing her for autographs and pictures.
While most officials are often maligned by those in the stands, she was cheered throughout the game, with fans on her side of the pitch calling out her name and showing her adoration usually only reserved for the players on show.
Davidson has found fame after making rugby history(Image: Klaudia Radecka/NurPhoto)
It came after Italian captain Michele Lamaro paused his post-match press conference in Dublin to congratulate Davidson on her achievement, describing her as “outstanding”.
The referee also has some well-known admirers outside of rugby, as she later revealed on The Good, The Scaz and The Rugby podcast that she had received glowing praise from TV personality Jamie Laing following her history-making match.
“On Saturday I got sent multiple messages of Jamie Laing posting on Instagram about me, and he just said ‘Congratulations’,” she explained. “He thought it was a successful day at the office for me. I was like ‘What? That’s unbelievable’.”
Away from the field, Davidson has largely kept her personal life private, although she is now thought to be single after splitting from her former partner, Scotland international Helen Nelson.
The pair are thought to have dated for over 10 years, with Nelson a legend of Scottish women’s rugby having won 75 caps and scored over 230 points in her international career to date.
Whether Davidson will start to embrace her new-found celebrity remains to be seen but, for now, she has her heart set on making rugby history yet again.
“My big goal would be to referee in 2027 at the Men’s World Cup,” she said. “I’d be lying if I said that that wasn’t one of my ambitions.”
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