Wayne Barnes

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Wayne Barnes (born 20 April 1979 in Gloucestershire, England) is an English international rugby union referee. He became a professional referee in April 2005, giving up a career in law to do so.^[1] Barnes is also the youngest referee ever appointed to the Panel of National Referees, having been given the position in 2001, aged just 21.^[2] He started playing rugby at age eight, and took up refereeing aged 15.^[1] He is currently a regular referee in the Guinness Premiership, and has refereed games in the Heineken Cup and the European Challenge Cup.

In 2006, Barnes made his Test debut as a referee, taking charge of three matches in the inaugural Pacific Five Nations and the Italy versus France match in the 2006 Six Nations.^[2] Before that, he had refereed at the 2003 U19 World Cup in Paris, the 2005 Under 21 Rugby World Championship in Argentina and he was the English representative on the Sevens circuit from December 2003 to March 2005.^[2] In April 2007, it was announced that Barnes would be one of three English referees at the 2007 Rugby World Cup, the others being Chris White and Tony Spreadbury. Barnes was given control of four matches at the World Cup, those being South Africa versus Tonga, Samoa versus USA (both Pool A), New Zealand versus Italy (Pool C) and Ireland versus Georgia (Pool D).

Barnes refereed the 2007 Rugby World Cup quarter-final match between France and New Zealand on 6 October 2007, which was his eleventh international match. His performance caused controversy among fans and commentators alike.^[3] Most notably, he missed a forward pass which resulted directly in a converted try for France late in the match and sent All Black Luke McAlister to the sin bin. An interview with a 'top 10' New Zealand referee in the New Zealand Herald suggested that while Barnes' decisions may have cost New Zealand the match on the scoreboard, they still should have been good enough to win the game. He concluded that despite Barnes' errors, his performance in the game was adequate.^[4] Following the quarter-final match several death threats were made to Barnes over the internet,^[5] including this article.

An 'Independent Review of the 2007 Rugby World Cup Campaign', conducted by Russel McVeagh lawyers and SPARC (Sport and Recreation New Zealand), found that Wayne Barnes and the touch judges had a significant impact on the result of the match. The report states that "The penalty count was 10–2 against the All Blacks, with none awarded in the second half, despite dominance in territory and possession (which statistically should result in penalties awarded to the dominant side). On anyone's account the referees and touch judges made mistakes which worked against the All Blacks."^[6]

In June 2008, All Black Lock Ali Williams attacked referee Wayne Barnes for his performance in their rugby World Cup quarterfinal loss to France. Speaking about Barnes, Williams was quoted as saying "And you've got to look at the ref. Seventeen unawarded penalties, that's bulls***." ^[7]

In the 2008 Six Nations Championship, Barnes became the first English official ever to take charge of a match at Croke Park, in which Wales beat Ireland 16–12. He was also appointed to take charge of his first Heineken Cup knockout match, between Stade Toulousain and Cardiff Blues at Le Stadium on 6 April 2008.

On 7 June 2008, the Dominion Post reported that Barnes was out of favour, as his performances during the past six months have not impressed the selectors, meaning he had not been given any new test appointments."^[8]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Rugby World Cup 2007 match official appointments set IRB.com

Persondata
NAME	Wayne Barnes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	English Rugby union referee
DATE OF BIRTH	20 April 1979
PLACE OF BIRTH	Gloucestershire, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH