John Pring

John Pym Gray Pring MBE (30 December 1927 – 10 March 2014) was a New Zealand rugby union referee. His refereeing career spanned 40 years, and included controlling all four test matches between the All Blacks and the British Lions on their 1971 tour to New Zealand.^[1] He was the first, and so far only, person to referee every test match in a Lions series.^[2]

John Pring

MBE

Birth name	John Pym Gray Pring
Date of birth	(1927-12-30)30 December 1927
Place of birth	Auckland, New Zealand
Date of death	10 March 2014(2014-03-10) (aged 86)
Place of death	Northcote, Auckland, New Zealand
Occupation(s)	Bank manager
Rugby union career
Refereeing career Years Competition Apps British & Irish Lions tours

In the 1979 Queen's Birthday Honours, Pring was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for services to rugby refereeing.^[3]

Pring died in the Auckland suburb of Northcote on 10 March 2014.^[1][4] His wife, Kathleen, died in 2021.^[5]