From injury to history - Davidson's rise to ref European final

BBC News

21-05-2025

When Hollie Davidson realised she would never fulfil her dreams of reaching the biggest stage as a rugby player, she did not give up or drift away from the sport.Instead, she set off on a different path, one that would lead her to become one of the world's top referees.The Scot will make history on Friday night in Cardiff when she takes charge of Bath against Lyon in the Challenge Cup final, the first woman to referee a European showpiece.It is the latest in a list of landmark moments in the 32-year-old's career, one that seems to be on an upward trajectory.Before all that, Davidson had ambitions of reaching the Test arena as a player. A talented half-back who could operate at scrum-half or fly-half, she was on the cusp of breaking into the Scotland team - until fate intervened."I was 19 going on 20 and I got invited up to my first senior women's Scotland camp," Davidson tells the BBC's Scotland Rugby Podcast."I was named to get my first cap off the bench against the Netherlands. "Unfortunately, the weekend before we were supposed to fly out, I ended up injuring my shoulder."That injury plagued me for the next few years, surgeries followed and I just could never find my way back into that set up."I was gutted. It's so brutal when you get so close to something you want so much."For it to kind of be snatched away so quickly, it was brutal. I thought when that happened, that probably was my journey in rugby kind of over."
When you see Davidson in the middle of a rugby match, you see a cool, confident figure.Her demeanour in interviews is the same. She is an engaging personality, an excellent communicator and you can see why she commands the respect of players.That confidence took a while to build, though. Starting out as a young female referee was not without its challenges."I actually think the early days are probably the hardest when you are trying to forge that reputation," Davidson says."You're arriving on your own to clubs that maybe have never had a female official. That in itself is quite daunting."Then, as you move up, people here in Scotland get to know you. I probably was going into those environments doubting myself: 'Oh, gosh, they think I'm a female ref, how are they going to be with me?' "Whereas, actually they don't care. So it's me accepting that's where I should be."It was more probably me getting over my own self-doubts than the players concerning themselves what my gender was."
Davidson talks about taking charge of a United Rugby Championship match between the Sharks and Munster.The pre-match coin toss with the two captains - Eben Etzebeth and Tadhg Beirne - arrived and Davidson says she felt completely at ease despite being next to "two powerhouses of our sport".The big moments have kept coming. She took charge of the 2021 Women's Rugby World Cup final, became the first female to officiate in the men's Six Nations as an assistant in 2023, and last year was the first woman to referee the world champion Springboks.She is continually raising the bar of her own ambitions, fuelled by a second chance to reach the heights she was unable to in her playing days."The big one would be to ref a men's Six Nations game," Davidson says. "Outside the World Cup, it's like an absolute pinnacle every single year when the Six Nations comes around."That was what made me fall in love with this game. Our schools coming down to Murrayfield on the buses. To then be a part of that, it would just be out of this world. I just think it would top anything that I've ever done so far."If that happens then I would put myself in contention to head to the men's World Cup [in Australia in 2027], but the men's World Cup won't come before a Six Nations game."So I just have to work really hard over this next year to hopefully have my name on that team sheet come the Six Nations."