Nigel Owens, the Welsh referee, has said that he is “humbled” by the decision to appoint him as the match official for the Rugby World Cup final between New Zealand and Australia at Twickenham on Saturday.
Owens, 44, a veteran of 67 Tests, described his appointment by World Rugby as the biggest match of his career as he laid bare the inner demons that almost cost him his life.
He will become the second Welshman to take charge of a World Cup final after Derek Bevan in the 1991 final at Twickenham between England and Australia.
Owens becomes just the seventh referee to be awarded the World Cup final, following in the footsteps of Kerry Fitzgerald (1987), Derek Bevan (1991), England’s Ed Morrison (1995), Andre Watson (1999 and 2003), Alain Rolland (2007) and Craig Joubert (2011). Wayne Barnes, the England referee, and the French official, Jerome Garces, will be his assistants, with South African Shaun Veldsman appointed as the television match official.
It will represent a culmination of a remarkable and emotional journey for the former school technician and youth worker, who took charge of his first senior club game in Wales when he was just 16.
Eight years later, Owen, having become bulimic and addicted to steroids, tried to take his own life as he struggled to come to terms with his sexuality.
After overdosing on paracetamol and whiskey, Owens is convinced that he would have pulled the trigger on the loaded shot-gun he had taken with him had he not slipped into coma before a police helicopter located him on the side of Banc-y-Ddraenen mountain.
“I was going downhill very fast to a very, very dark place where there was no way out for me at one stage,” Owens said. “I left a note for mum and dad and said, ‘I can’t carry on anymore with my life’. I didn’t tell them why.
“I was found by the police helicopter. My mum told me that night in hospital, ‘If you do anything like that again then you take me and your dad with you because we don’t want to live without you’.
“I told myself, ‘You need to accept who you are’. That was the first big turning point in my life.”
Owens had broken on to the international circuit in 2005 and took charge of his first Test when Japan hosted Ireland in Osaka that summer, but again he faced a challenging moment when he decided to come out publicly in 2007.
Last November he revealed to The Daily Telegraph that he had considered walking away from the sport after being subject to homophobic abuse when refereeing a match between England and New Zealand at Twickenham.
Two supporters were later banned from Twickenham for two years after being found to have aimed homophobic abuse at him and also ordered to pay £1,000 each to a charity of his choice.
“If it wasn’t for rugby union, the players, spectators and communities of rugby, I couldn’t be the person I am today,” Owens told a BBC Wales documentary that was broadcast last night.
Owens has been widely lauded for his refereeing performances at this World Cup tournament, having taken charge of the matches between Tonga and Georgia, South Africa and Scotland, France and Ireland, and the quarter-final between New Zealand and France.
He was an assistant referee in the 2011 World Cup final between New Zealand and France, having also officiated at the tournament four years earlier in France and was only the second man to referee two consecutive Heineken Cup finals – in 2008 and 2009.
“This is a huge honour and a privilege for me,” Owens said. “I am humbled to have been chosen to referee the Rugby World Cup final.
“This is my third World Cup and I think it has been the best. It has been inspirational.
“The quality of rugby on display has been incredible in front of packed venues and so to be given the opportunity to referee the final match between the best two teams in the tournament is an amazing honour.
“I would like to thank World Rugby and the Welsh Rugby Union for their support over many years. There have been so many individual people throughout my career who have helped and supported me along the way and, while I can’t name everyone here, I will be thanking everyone personally in due course.
“I want to thank my friends and family for their ongoing support and for helping me through some rough times in my life.
“My dad, in particular, is always there for me and is delighted with this news – it’s just a shame my mother is not here to see this as she was a pillar of strength for me.
“She passed away six years ago and I know she would have been very proud.”
