John Percival was a New Zealand rugby league referee.
Percival was from the Point Chevalier Pirates club and played for the 1947 Schoolboy Kiwi side.
[1] He took up refereeing in 1956 and controlled matches in the Auckland Rugby League competition.
[2] Percival is credited with innovating the penalty for backchat as he regularly used to march teams for the offence before it was added to the official rulebook.
[1] The Auckland Rugby League's Referee of the Year award is named the "John Percival Memorial Premiership Referee of the Year" in recognition of Percival's service to the game.