ARFU stalwart Carlson Lin wins major IRB award

The International Rugby Board has announced that Chia-Seng Lin, better known around regional pitches as Carlson Lin, has won the IRB Development Award. The presentation was made at the Ninth IRB General Assembly in Dublin on Monday evening, November 30, 2009.

The IRB Development Award was presented to Carlson Lin of the Chinese Taipei Rugby Football Union for his exceptional contribution to the development of the game in Asia and the advancement of match official training and recruitment across a region that is experiencing exceptional growth.

Lin was Rugby Sevens Event Manager at this year’s World Games in Kaohsiung; an event hailed a tremendous success, and has also served as a Judicial Officer, Referee Manager, Match Commissioner and Referee Educator since taking up the whistle in 1964.

An invaluable asset to Asian rugby and a true champion of rugby sevens, Lin is now Vice President of the Chinese Taipei Rugby Football Union and an IRB Educator of Match Officials.

“Without the dedication of volunteers across the World, the Game simply would not survive and Carlson Lin has invested many years of his life, both in becoming an exceptional referee and training others to do the same,” said IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset.

“This award is in recognition of his tremendous contribution to developing the game. The Rugby Sevens event at the World Games was a natural fit for a multi-sport event and its success was much to do with the work of Lin and his team”.

On behalf of the Asian rugby family, warm congratulations go to Carlson Lin for this tremendous accolade. In typically modest fashion the universally popular Carlson told us, "This award belongs to all of us. I promise to keep going forward."

This is the second time that Asian Rugby personalities have been honoured with the IRB Development Award after Cambodia’s Tan Theany and Philippe Monnin won the honour in 2003.

Carlson Lin receives his award from the IRB

Previous Winners of IRB Development Award

2001 - Jorge Brasceras

2002 - John Broadfoot

2003 - Tan Theany & Philippe Monnin

2004 - Guedel Ndiaye

2005 - Robert Antonin

2006 - Mike Luke

2007 - Jacob Thompson

2008 - Tag Rugby Trust and Martin Hansford

Text and image courtesy: Elite Step Asia Limited