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Revision as of 09:45, 7 October 2007 by Smokestack13 (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Wayne Barnes (born 20 April 1979) is an English international rugby union referee and an absolute cheat. He became a professional referee in April 2005, giving up a career in law to do so. This was not a particularly good decision, as he is particularly hopeless at refereeing. Barnes is also the youngest referee ever appointed to the Panel of National Referees, having been given the position in 2001, aged just 21. He started playing rugby at age 8, and took up refereeing aged 15. 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 v France match in the 2006 Six Nations. Before that, he had refereed at the 2003 U19 World Cup in Paris, the 2005 U21 World Cup in Argentina and he was the English representative on the Sevens circuit from December 2003 to March 2005. 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 v Tonga, Samoa v USA (both Pool A), New Zealand v Italy (Pool C) and Ireland v Georgia (Pool D).
- ^ "Wayne Barnes Joins Elite Referees". RFU.com. 2005-04-06. Retrieved 2007-04-29.
- ^ "Premiership Referees". GuinnessPremiership.com. Retrieved 2007-04-29.