Seattle Seawolves Release

Seattle, October 24, 2017: Seattle Seawolves Rugby is proud to announce John Clavin, the current Chairman of the USA Rugby Referee & Laws Committee, as a member of its advisory board. Clavin is well known both for his expertise in the application of the laws and regulations of rugby and for displaying an incredible passion for the art of rugby refereeing. “John’s knowledge and passion for the game is respected throughout the rugby community. His commitment to the long-term success of professional rugby within the United States will be an asset to our team and league,” said Shane Skinner, co-founder of Seattle Seawolves Rugby.

John hasn’t given up playing entirely yet, and still plays a couple of games a year for the Northwest Old Boys in Seattle and the Semiahmoo Old Boys in Vancouver, BC. “I’ve been involved in the sport of rugby for over 40 years, at all kinds of levels of the sport, and I have a good sense of the immense amount of background work that goes into running a competition, especially one with the geographical challenges that North America provides. So far, I’ve been very impressed with the Seawolves team and the attention to detail that’s involved in their planning. I look forward to working with the Seawolves, the other MLR teams, and MLR to enhance the North American profile of the game played in heaven”, said John at the time of the announcement.

We are proud to welcome John Clavin to the Seawolves family.

More about John Clavin

John started playing rugby in the mid-70s at Blackrock College in Ireland and went on to play for Dublin University and the Blackrock senior club.

He started refereeing occasionally during periods of injury in Ireland in the late 80s, but switched to being a full-time referee after his move to Seattle in 2001, to stay involved in the game and give back to rugby. His refereeing resume includes multiple games as AR in the now defunct Rugby Super League, including 2012 final, some age grade tests, and international 7s tournaments amongst others. Most recently he was a referee manager at the World Series 7s event in Las Vegas.

He joined the board of Pacific Northwest Referee Society in 2010 and was its chairman from 2014-2016. In 2016 John became Chairman of Referees and Laws at USA Rugby and joined the National Rugby Committee. In 2017 he added becoming Chair of the National Referee Selection Committee.

More about the Seattle Seawolves

The Seawolves are proud to be Seattle’s Major League Rugby franchise. With an ownership group led by Seattle-based entrepreneurs Adrian Balfour and Shane Skinner, the club was formed in 2017 and is a founding member of Major League Rugby. The inaugural season kicks off in Spring 2018 and the venue will be Starfire Stadium in Tukwila, Washington.