Naval Officer receives Scotland's Top Referee Award : Royal Navy Rugby Union

Naval Officer receives Scotland's Top Referee Award

Dunx McClement was awarded his Navy Colours when he took charge of the Army v RAF IS match at Aldershot in 2015

Dunx takes charge of the 2014/15 Navy Cup Final match between HMS SEAHAWK and Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth

Dunx receives his award as Scottish Rugby Union’s Referee of the Year for 2015/16

Navy and UK Armed Forces Rugby Referee Dunx McClement has ended an excellent season by being named the Scottish Rugby Union’s Referee of the Year for 2015/16. The award was presented by SRU Council Member and World Rugby Referee Performance Reviewer Fergus Neil and Sky TV’s Jo Wilson at the prestigious SRU Annual Awards Dinner held at BT Murrayfield.

The award caps a fine 12 months for Commander McClement who is currently serving as Head of Safety Assurance at HM Naval Base Clyde. Awarded his Navy Colours for refereeing the Army v RAF Inter Service fixture at the end of last season, he became only the third Navy Referee in history to be put in charge of the that fixture; a match he again took charge of in 2016.

The beginning of the season started well with Dunx officiating at a number of BT Scottish Premiership fixtures before being included as one of the Navy referees for the International Defence Rugby Competition that was run in parallel with the 2015 Rugby World Cup. After performing strongly throughout the early stages of the tournament he was given the honour of refereeing the Final between The Fijian Defence Force and the British Army at the Twickenham Stoop. When asked about that night Dunx said "The experience of taking charge of such an important fixture under the Stoop’s floodlights was incredible and one that will stay with me; to have the best seat in the house for a hard fought final was fantastic."

He continued to go from strength to strength throughout the season, re-enforcing his reputation for fair but firm officiating across Scotland and for also being able to quickly establish a rapport with the players. As part of the Scottish Rugby Union’s High Performance Group he has also officiated as an Assistant Referee for both the EPCR European Challenge Cup and Guinness Pro-12 competitions. On receiving his award Dunx said "Noting previous winners it is truly an incredible honour to be given this award and is in no small part testament to the Navy’s and, more importantly, my wife’s support."

A referee of 10 years he began his refereeing career by attending the RFU level 1 course through the Royal Navy Rugby Union. If you are a retired or injured player, or just feel that you would like to take up the whistle, then please contact WO1 Gaz Fairbairn for further details.