Matthew Rodden
World Rugby HSBC Sevens World Series Referee
Matthew Rodden is a professional referee, currently on the referee panel of the HSBC Sevens World Series. He is also a member of Asia Rugby's 'A Panel' for 7s and 15s as well as a high performance referee for the Hong Kong Rugby Union's Premiership.
Matt was born and raised in New Zealand, with his roots in Taranaki. He graduated with a BA in Geography and Political Science from Victoria University of Wellington. He commenced his refereeing career in 2012 and was quickly proven to be an all-round match official.
He moved to Hong Kong in 2013 to take up the post of Community Referee Manager (now Referee Development Manager) for the HKRU, managing fixtures and the wider group of 120+ community referees in Hong Kong. Matt also heads up the National and Junior Referee Development Programs.
Matt and his 1 year old pup Denver
Affiliations
Career Highlights
2013: The big bang
Officially started my refereeing career in Hong Kong.
2014: Taste of HK 7s
First time Assistant Referee of the HK7s
2015: Olympic Qualifier Asia
Appointed Match Official of the Olympic Qualifier for 2016 Rio Games
2016: HSBC Sevens World Series Debut
Appointed to referee at the Singapore leg of the World Series
2018: Asian Games
Refereed the 7s final of the 13th Asian Games in Indonesia
2020: Sevens World Series Centurion
Officiated the 100th match in LA Sevens on the HSBC World Series
What people say about matt
“Matt is a nutcase, but a big part of the success of Hong Kong rugby.”