Nigel Owens

Born in the small village of Mynyddcerrig in the Gwendraeth Valley, West Wales. I started refereeing when I was 16yrs of age whilst a pupil at Maesyryrfa School. Although I played rugby and enjoyed it very much I was not very good at tackling and under the high ball and as my position was full-back I decided that refereeing would be a better option (in fact it was all my team mates and coach that said that it would be a better option). I joined Llanelli and District Referees Society and refereed my first ever game between Carmarthenshire v Pembrokshire Schools U15s when after the game one of the parents came into my changing room and said “I can’t believe that was your first game…keep it going and you’ll go far.” That would have been in 1988 and seventeen years later in 2005 I refereed my first international, Japan v Ireland in Osaka. I also refereed for three seasons in the IRB World Seven Series in 14 Tournaments between 2002 and 2005, refereeing a record eight of the finals.

I am one of only two referees to ever referee back to back Heineken Cup Finals – Munster v Toulouse at the Millenium Stadium in 2008 and Leinster v Leicester at Murrayfield in 2009. They were both very special occasions in what is a great tournament, the Heineken Cup. To referee the Final at the Millenium Stadium in 2008 was one of the highlights of my career, not only because it was my first Heineken Cup Final but also the fact that it was at the Millenium Stadium, an opportunity one rarely has as a Welsh referee to officiate at your home country’s stadium in front of a capacity crowd.

Other highlights of my refereeing career so far include being the only Welsh referee at the 2007 RWC in France. Some of the most memorable matches I have officiated in would be Leinster v Munster in the Heineken Cup Semi Final 2009 at Croke Park with a world record crowd for a club/provincial match of 83,000 spectators. Also recently, I refereed South Africa v New Zealand in the Tri-Nations Tournament at Soccer City, Soweto. The first ever rugby fixture to be played in
Soweto with a sell out crowd of 95,000 in one of the greatest occasions and atmosphere’s I have had the honour of officiating in.