Nigel Owens

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Nigel Owens
Nigel Owens Welsh Rugby Union Referee.JPG
Owens officiating the 2009 English Premiership match between Bath and Leicester Tigers
Date of birth (1971-06-18) 18 June 1971 (age 53)
Place of birth Mynyddcerrig, near Cross Hands, Carmarthenshire, Wales
Occupation(s) Rugby union referee
Rugby union career
Refereeing career
Years Competition Apps
2000–
2001–
2005–
2007–
2015		 Challenge Cup
Champions Cup
Test matches
Rugby World Cup
2015 Rugby World Cup Final		 10
85
68

1

Nigel Owens (born 18 June 1971) is a Welsh international rugby union referee. He is an international and European Rugby Champions Cup referee and was the only Welsh referee at the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France[1] and at the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. He was referee for the 2015 Rugby World Cup final in England.[2]

Owens was appointed as an international referee in 2005, and that year officiated at his first tier 1 international between Ireland and Japan in Osaka. Owens made his World Cup debut on 11 September 2007 in the match between Argentina and Georgia in Lyon, France. He is one of only two referees to be appointed to referee two consecutive Heineken Cup finals: Munster v Toulouse at the Millennium Stadium in 2008; and Leicester Tigers v Leinster at Murrayfield in 2009. He has since done a third and fourth final Leinster v Ulster at Twickenham 2012, and Toulon v Clermont in Twickenham in 2015 this as well as two European Challenge Cup finals makes a total of a record six European finals, making him the most capped referee in European competition. In June this year he will go on to becoming the most experienced international referee ever when he takes charge of Fiji v Tonga making a total of 71 caps so far.

He is also known as a TV personality, as one of the presenters of the S4C chats shows Jonathan and Bwrw'r Bar. Owens also hosts his own quiz programme Munud i Fynd. In 2011 he was made a member of the Gorsedd of Bards.[3]

Personal life

Owens was born and raised in the village of Mynyddcerrig, near Cross Hands in Carmarthenshire, Wales. He is a fluent Welsh speaker. He was a school technician at Ysgol Gyfun Maes Yr Yrfa Cefneithin and a youth worker with Menter Cwm Gwendraeth. Before that he worked on a farm for over a year as a farmhand. His autobiography, Hanner Amser (Half Time), was published in Welsh in 2008, then in English in 2009. In 2011 he was made a member of the Gorsedd of Bards.[3][4] He was a patron of the LGBT Centre of Excellence Wales, until its disbandment in late 2012, but he is still that of the Wooden Spoon Society rugby charity. In 2013 Owens became a patron of Bullies Out charity in Wales.[5] He served at various times as secretary, chairman and president of the Wales Federation of Young Farmers Clubs.[6] Owens is a fan of Wrexham Football Club.[7]

Career

Owens was appointed as an international referee in 2005, and that year officiated his first international between Ireland and Japan in Osaka. Owens made his World Cup debut in Lyon, France on 11 September 2007 in the Argentina vs. Georgia match. He is only one of two referees ever to be appointed to referee two consecutive Heineken Cup finals: Munster v Toulouse at the Millennium Stadium in 2008 and Leicester Tigers v Leinster at Murrayfield in 2009 and has since refereed another two finals in 2012 Leinster v Ulster and Toulon v Clermont in 2015. In 2015 he did the triple crown in refereeing, refereeing the 2015 European Final, Pro12 Final and then the World Cup Final all in the space of 5 months.

He is one of the presenters on Jonathan, a rugby-themed Welsh language chat show hosted by former Welsh international Jonathan Davies, broadcast on S4C on the eve of big international matches. He co-presents the sports-themed Welsh language chat show Bwrw'r Bar and now has his own show, the quiz programme Munud i Fynd. He is an after-dinner speaker.

In May 2007, Owens publicly came out as gay in an interview with Wales on Sunday. Although reactions have been generally positive, he says it was a difficult decision to make and that he had even contemplated suicide.[8]

"It's such a big taboo to be gay in my line of work, I had to think very hard about it because I didn't want to jeopardise my career. Coming out was very difficult and I tried to live with who I really was for years. I knew I was 'different' from my late teens, but I was just living a lie."

Shortly after the 2007 Rugby World Cup, Owens was named 'Gay Sports Personality of the Year' at gay rights group Stonewall's awards ceremony in London.[9] In 2015 he was named 'Gay Sports Personality of the Decade at Stonewall awards ceremony in London.

In 2015 Owens was appointed as the referee for the 2015 Rugby World Cup Final between New Zealand and Australia at Twickenham.[10] At 44 years old, Owens was the oldest of the 12 referees. The match saw the first yellow card in a Rugby World Cup final. Writing in The Independent, Michael Calvin said: "Nigel Owens deserved the honour of controlling the Rugby World Cup final, since he is the best referee in any of our major sports. The antithesis of a rulebook automaton, he is authoritative without being condescending and balances sharp comment with quick humour."[11]

Owens announced on 3 November that he intended to keep officiating in international rugby for another four years.[12]

References

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Further reading

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