Saracen’s Flyhalf Glenn Jackson becomes a pro ref … interesting career move
Jackson refereed at a junior level before leaving New Zealand for a 5 year stint at the North London club.
He refereed at lower club level while in England and has just turned pro upon his return to New Zealand where he will join the professional refereeing ranks there.
Jackson was a solid fly half with excellent kicking skills who won New Zealand’s Ranfurly Shield with Bay of Plenty and played for the Waikato Chiefs in the Super12. He also played for NZ Maori.
In a recent interview, Jackson admitted that he was (and remains) ‘a bit lippy’ on the field and that he could face a challenge dealing with players who have similar habits.
But he was confident that he could bring some insights to the occasionally messy ruck situation.
Jackson’s ‘switch to the dark side’ has been hailed as a great move.
Getting former top line players into refereeing happened in other sports (like Cricket) but was very rare in rugby, where professional players tend to move into business, rugby-related and other personal-brand type careers (TV, agents, coaches, business owners, etc).
We will be watching Jackson’s development with interest.
