Goodbye and thank you

[Heathen]

Wayne Barnes has announced his retirement from refereeing.

Personally, I always liked his way of running matches.

[NellyWellyWaspy]

Wayne Barnes has announced his retirement from refereeing.

Personally, I always liked his way of running matches.

I found him too matey and prone to making snap 'I didn't see it decisions,' where he was just plain wrong. TMOs at the RWC to an extent fixed that, but that in itself opens a can of worms about overuse of the TMO. One cannot deny he has made a very positive contribution to the game.

Still, horses for courses and all that.

With clubs going bust left, right and centre, less refs are needed. I am sure his missus will appreciate seeing him more. He will continue to earn a bundle on the after dinner speaker circuit, and still get invites to all major games.

I would be surprised if he didn't get offered a gong or two, and maybe a senior position as a judge. He is one of those rare people who came through the state school system, and 'only' went to a new university, and isn't from one of the 'right sort' of families. All in all, I have little doubt he has enjoyed life thus far, and good on him for that.

[WonkyWasp]

For one awful moment I read the heading for this thread as referring to Heathen and Nelly!  I'm SO glad I was wrong.  Phew.

[Bloke in North Dorset]

I agree with NWW's points but overall I think he's been good for the game and the best referee of his generation.

He's a good communicator but this was also a problem. He had a period a couple of years where he over refereed games, by that I mean he never shut up and allowed players to make their own decisions, but he calmed down and I thought got it about right for the World Cup.

I suspect we're going to see quite a lot of him as a pundit over the coming years which will also be good for the game, if he keeps his ego in check.

I wish him well and like Heathen thank him for his efforts.

[Steve from Cov]

Excellent referee who went out at the top. He set the standard for young home nations referees too.

[westwaleswasp]

I never liked his reffing of offside. He seemed happy to let the defensive team steal six inches to a foot.
I like his style,especially the rather anachronistic use of 'fellas', and the French he employed, but the game right now needs to penalise the rush defense if it steals so much as a millimeter, because it is boring as hell to watch this arsewipe garbage and promotes negative kick chase rugby in response. Barnes, like Owens before him, likes to let the game flow as time went on. A fair transition, as many refs like CMK, for example, go from over enthusiastic whistlers to chilling out. It is what you want from a ref generally. Blowing for a millimeter offside was against both Barnes and Owen's ethos, but it needs to be enforced for the good of the game. 
 If the next time a player rushes drom 6 inches offside they get pinged they don't do it again.  If the world's leading refs don't  do it, they give the green light to continue. Keep pinging them and we get a better game. Ditto the scrum feed to the second row. If the Barnes of this world won't start pinging in the twilight of their careers when they are untouchable , who on earth will?

In short it is rugby's problem, and Barnes going won't improve refereeing, quite the opposite if the next best are Peyper and Bent O Keefe,  but I would have hoped that in his last couple of years that Barnes would have been a little more keen on enforcing the often not enforced laws.
I do wish him and his family well, however, and am grateful for his service.

[Shugs]

I think he peaked about 4-5 years ago. Since then he?s still been decent but shades of him recognising he was a media presence and a penchant for refereeing as to what he thought should be done rather than the laws crept in.

[JF]

I can think of worse refs to have in charge of a game.

I remember when he started he was very officious and distant, like a school prefect asserting supposed authority over kids who didn't give a damn.

As for being a media presence, that was always likely to happen in this media age. If Spreaders had been officiating these days I'm sure he would have had the same things happen to him.

[RogerE]

You can tell he is a barrister the way he analyses and gives his discisions.

Who remebers that match against Bathin 2020 when both our hookers were injured and Barnes, basically, talked Tom West out of playing as Hooker, as he hadn't played there since age group, and then explaining it well to everyone.

He has a sports-based legal firm, and, according to a KC friend would probably be a KC by now if he had concentrated less on his reffing.

Even if he doesn't become part of the dinner-party speaker circuit he has a bright future outside of the game.