Celebrating Robin Timmins: A legend of club rugby and Australia’s first female referee
When Amy Perrett became the first female to referee a Super Rugby game in August 2020, no one was prouder than fellow Eastwood tragic and former referee Robin Timmins.
Over 48 years, Timmins broke a number of barriers within the sport, becoming Australia’s first ever female rugby referee and the first women in NSW Rugby’s 150-plus-year history to receive an Honorary Life Membership.
In 2013, Timmins received both the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) and an IRB Development Award for her contributions to the rugby community.
But it wasn’t easy for Timmins to break into the sport back in the 1960s.
After marrying a rugby referee, Timmins joined the Eastwood District Rugby Referees Association shortly after its formation in 1963 and acted as its Honorary Secretary until 1982.
In 1968, she joined the Sydney Rugby Union as a secretary and although women were unable to sit the referees exam at the time, Timmins convinced the decision-makers to give her a chance a