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| Date of birth | (1979-04-20) April 20, 1979 (age 45) | ||||||||||
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| Place of birth | Gloucestershire, England | ||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||
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Wayne Barnes (born 20 April 1979 in Gloucestershire, England) is an English international rugby union referee. He is a regular referee in the Guinness Premiership, and has refereed games in the Heineken Cup and the European Challenge Cup. He has also refereed matches at the Rugby World Cup and in the Six Nations competitions.
Barnes was educated at Whitecross School in Lydney, where he was head boy, Monmouth School and at the University of East Anglia. He started playing rugby at age eight, and took up refereeing aged 15 with London Society of Rugby Football Union Referees. Barnes is the youngest referee ever appointed to the Panel of National Referees, having been given the position in 2001, aged just 21. He became a professional referee in April 2005, giving up a career in law to do so.
Barnes refereed at the 2003 U19 World Cup in Saint-Denis, the 2005 Under 21 Rugby World Championship in Argentina, and was the English representative on the Sevens circuit from December 2003 to March 2005. In 2006, Barnes made his Test debut as a referee, taking charge of three matches in the inaugural Pacific Five Nations.
Barnes was one of three English referees to officiate at the 2007 Rugby World Cup, the others being Chris White and Tony Spreadbury. After New Zealand was knocked out of the quarter-final Bebo profiles were created by some New Zealand fans dedicated to criticising Wayne Barnes refereeing performance, including the fact that Barnes did not award New Zealand a single penalty in the final 60 minutes of the game, and that a try to France that decided the match came off a forward pass that was missed by officials. Comments there and at other internet sites that included death threats and personal abuse were condemned by the International Rugby Board and then New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark. Sir Graham Henry's autobiography states that "Barnes missed 40 penalty infringements by France and that if New Zealand had got all the penalties they deserved, the final score should been 42-3 or 42-6". Henry goes on to describe the 'one sided' nature of the match and say that in 140 test matches and 20 years of coaching he had never experienced such a performance from an official.
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 appointed in 2008 to take charge of his first Heineken Cup knockout match, between Stade Toulousain and Cardiff Blues at Le Stadium on 6 April 2008. In 2010, Barnes officiated his first Heineken Cup Final between Toulouse and Biarritz at the Stade de France, Saint-Denis, on 22nd May.
On 11 September Barnes refereed the Wales v South Africa match at the 2011 Rugby World Cup, in which Wales were beaten by South Africa 16-17.
On Sunday the 5th February he refereed the Ireland v Wales game in the 2012 Six Nations Championship.
Although still an elite IRB referee, Barnes has not been selected as part of the panel to referee a Tier 1 summer international for 2012. Instead he will be one of the officials present at the Pacific Nations Cup in Japan.
Barnes refereed the Heineken Cup semi-final match on Sunday 29th April 2012; Clermont Auvergne v Leinster.
References
- ^ "Wayne Barnes Joins Elite Referees". RFU.com. 2005-04-06. Retrieved 2007-04-29.
- ^ "Premiership Referees". GuinnessPremiership.com. Retrieved 2007-04-29.
- "Ref faces backlash as 'pampered' ABs, not Henry, take the blame". The New Zealand Herald. 8 October 2007. Retrieved 2 December 2011.
- "Death threats outrage refs chief". BBC News. 8 October 2007.
- Mole, Giles (09 Oct 2007). "English ref Wayne Barnes backed after NZ slur". The Telegraph. London.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - "Don't blame the ref - Clark". New Zealand Herald. Tuesday Oct 9, 2007.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/7370102/How-Henry-became-sick-of-referee-Barnes
- http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10823015
- http://www.irb.com/training/officialpanels/index.html
- http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/news/16536.php