Wayne Barnes to referee final at his fifth Rugby World Cup
Wayne Barnes, the world’s most experienced Test referee, has been chosen to take charge of the World Cup final between New Zealand and South Africa on Saturday.
Barnes will have compatriots Karl Dickson and Matthew Carley as his assistant referees with Tom Foley named as the Television Match Official, and Luke Pearce named AR4.
Wayne has refereed 110 international games and more than 250 Premiership matches. In 2005, aged 21, he became the RFU's youngest ever elite referee, making his World Cup debut in 2007.
The 44-year-old made his Test debut in Fiji in June 2006, and became only the second referee to reach a century of Test games, after Nigel Owens, during Wales v New Zealand at the Principality Stadium in November 2022. Then he set an outright record of 101 Test matches refereeing Six Nations Grand Slam winners France and reigning world champions South Africa in Marseille later the same month.
Wayne began refereeing as a schoolboy. He started playing rugby at the age of eight at Bream RFC, and took up refereeing aged 15 with Gloucester & District Referees. At university he transferred to the Norfolk Referees Society, part of Eastern Counties, followed by a transfer to the London Society. Widely regarded as one of the game’s finest officials, he was the first English referee to officiate at Dublin’s Croke Park.
“At 15 I was refereeing a lot of men’s and women’s matches across Gloucestershire. I got away with a lot of on-field decision making because nobody wanted to shout at such a young referee. I had players and other referees taking me under their wing, which helped me to move on quite quickly. I was learning from some fantastic people within the Gloucestershire Society, and just like players do, I moved through the ranks: the thirds, the seconds, then the first teams.
“I made the National Panel at 21 and there you get watched, assessed and you’re learning from the other members, the top 50 referees in the country. I moved up into the Championship and then my first Premiership game in 2003, from there I moved through the European ranks and refereed my first international in 2006.
Barrister & referee
"My university degree was in Law at the University of East Anglia and I came to London training to be a barrister while also training to be a referee. My first Premiership match was Bath v Rotherham, two days after being asked to join 3 Temple Gardens.
"Getting the call to say I was a barrister was a momentous day and we celebrated a bit that night, then I had my first Premiership match the next day. Those are two days that will always stay with me. Each weekend I would be travelling around the country and juggling that around my work. April Fool’s Day 2005 was when I was taken on by the RFU and was able to take more time as a match official, learning from the likes of Tony Spreadbury, Chris White and Dave Pearson.
“I always wanted to stay in Law, and the RFU were, and still are, very good in allowing me to do that. I’m a criminal lawyer, so I’ll go down into the cells hours before a client is about to stand trial or apply for bail. I try to get their confidence, explain everything, let them know their voice will be heard. As a referee, I go into a changing room two hours before a match, it’s the first time I’ll have met the captains, so there are lots of similarities, with me making sure people have been heard and trying to do the best job possible.”
Wayne’s career as a barrister has focused on criminal advocacy, specialising in complex corporate investigations, and representing clients under investigation or prosecution by the likes of the UK Serious Fraud Squad. He has also conducted investigations in sport for, among others, The British Judo Association, England Boxing and the British Horse Racing Association.
“That fits with my refereeing, the investigative side, and potential issues, making sure the worst-case scenario doesn’t happen. On a match day I stand there with a camera pointing at my face ‘why is it a red card?’ or ‘why isn’t it a try?’. Not so different to going into a court room!
“Spreaders was my mentor, also a paramedic, often working in the Somerset area hours after being on a pitch. Tom Foley still works as a structural engineer. You don’t just learn from rugby, different careers bring different things. Of course, you turn up in a boardroom and people who were in the stands shouting advice start to clock you and they’re not sure how to react.
“My first international match was in ’06, Fiji v Samoa in Suva. There I was thinking this is going to be a fantastic occasion, but I have absolutely no idea what I am walking into. There were 15,000 fans sat around the banks or in the small stand, chanting, singing, and that running rugby with all its excitement.
“Wales v New Zealand for my 100th game, the Haka, the memories from other games, that game in Suva. I went back there last year, Sixteen years had passed, and it’s such a wonderful place. I can probably remember all the international games I’ve refereed, travelling to the ground, a controversial moment, or a moment of magic. Ireland beat the All Blacks in New Zealand for the first time, and you are there, special memories. Six Nations matches are always wonderful to be involved in, big Rugby World Cup games. This is my fifth Rugby World Cup! And all of this brings a smile or a reflection, a different memory.
Fans & love of the game
“What would I tell the young Wayne Barnes just starting out? You’ll be lucky to have all the people giving their time and experience to help you, former international coaches, scrummaging coaches. Talking to me back in ’95 I’d say make sure you speak to players, to coaches, gain from their knowledge. Referees don’t make a game, coaches, players, referees all working together make the game and make it better. And I would always remember the most important stakeholders, the fans.
“There’s been a lot of change, we never used to discuss how to get a better game, but that interaction is there now with World Rugby focus groups, discussion groups, Directors of Rugby and referees working in partnership which achieves more ball in play, more entertaining rugby for the fans. Reaching 100 Tests made me realise I’ve been around a long time, made friends and colleagues like Nigel Owens and Craig Joubert who are no longer refereeing. That’s what you notice, you’re the only one of that group left but you are constantly making new friends among referees across the world, like Ben O’Keeffe and Jaco Peyper.
“We referee because we love the game, and we are very close as a unit. When someone has a rough ride, we try to look after each other. We know each other’s families, we travel together, and we want our friends, our colleagues to succeed.
“But one thing you realise as a referee is how much the people around you sacrifice. Every time I jump on a plane and fly off for four weeks, I leave behind my wife Polly and my children Juno and Beau. It gets harder and harder. It will have been 10 weeks’ absence for this Rugby World Cup and it’s my wife making the sacrifice, my children too not seeing one of their parents for such a long time. It’s a family decision but those unseen sacrifices from our families, that’s what I’ll never forget, that is what has allowed me to follow my dream.
“It has changed me as a person because refereeing isn’t just a job, it’s a way of life and rugby is a passion, something that I love. You have to listen to all those opinions, so it has made me a better listener and I make sure the way I speak is considered. It’s allowed me to meet wonderful people, amazing players, let me have that breadth of friendship which growing up in a working-class part of the world I couldn’t have imagined. I made my first flight aged 20 to a rugby match, so refereeing has given me the chance to be part of a wider world I would probably never have seen.”
