My love letter to Nigel Owens
This week I came across a cracking photo of rugby referee Nigel Owens, taken in his teens.
There’s Nige, intervening in a scrum during a match in his home county of Carmarthenshire in Wales – hip cocked, one arm braced against the hooker, wagging his whistle finger at a faceless opposition player.
He can’t have been more than 17, but the look on his face – patient but stern – is classic Owens. If it wasn’t for the curly mullet (and the gentle passage of time) the picture could have been taken on the field in Japan last night.
What a joy Owens is. I don’t mean just as a ref, although the real experts tell me he is undeniably the best in the world at that – but as a human being. One of the few refs you hear nary a (reasonable) grumble about, spitting out the crack-up one-liners as he goes about his job, and occasionally (if unintentionally) chucking in some physical comedy as well.
His near-collision with the camera operator in the USA vs Tonga match set the internet alight and created yet another Owens meme to add to the genuinely good World Cup sponsor ads he’s starred in. It’s no surprise to learn he had a spell doing stand-up comedy at the Mynyddcerrig Working Men’s Club, aged 14.
Look at what he did here in New Zealand in 2017. Flying into Auckland ahead of the Bledisloe Cup test Owens could have choppered to Waiheke for lunch. Instead he asked whether there was any rugby he could help out with, and spent his day off reffing a schoolboy match at St Peter’s College, to the great delight of a large bunch of teen fans.
Of course, Owens’ growing legacy to rugby is much bigger than just allaround competence and a great sense of humour. He’s still one of the only big names of the sport who is openly gay.
Owens has powered down the road of tolerance and understanding, speaking openly about rarely-discussed men’s health issues like eating disorders in males – and his own history of bulimia.
Owens should be proud of his work. As a genuinely good bloke who’s lived an interesting life and wants to help, Owens will have had a massive, positive effect on fans and followers.
I know the Irish were dreading having Owens officiate last night’s match – the inference being he’d let pass too much All Black chicanery – but the rest of the rugby world won’t agree. In a game where the ref is generally the black hat, it’s always a treat to see our hero Nigel Owens take the field.