There’s been a few new match officials recently heading into the elite list who have refereed at least 100 Premiership matches in England. So, who are the 16 members of the Premiership Club 100 so far?
Wayne Barnes tops the list at 245 matches so far. To add some context along side playing length of service, when Barnes referees Gloucester v Newcastle this weekend, his 246th game, it would put him in 7th position on the all-time players record of Premiership games – behind Tom May (254), Charlie Hodgson (247), Phil Dowson (262), George Chuter (262), Steve Borthwick (265) and Richard Wigglesworth (301).
Here’s the full referees list, and the numbers are accurate at the time of publication (updated on 30 January 2022.) A * next to their name, denotes they are still actively refereeing in the Gallagher Premiership.
- Wayne Barnes – 250* matches
- Chris White – 190
- JP Doyle – 180
- Dave Pearson – 171
- Ashley Rowden – 139
- Andrew Small – 121
- Greg Garner – 116
- Luke Pearce – 121*
- Tony Spreadbury – 115
- David Rose – 115
- Tim Wigglesworth – 110
- Sean Davey – 110
- Steve Lander – 109
- Matthew Carley – 115*
- Tom Foley – 108*
- Craig Maxwell-Keys – 106*
- Ian Tempest – 100*
- (As at 30 Jan 2022)
This list transcends the Premiership era, and during a time when referees increasingly have become as professional as the players they oversee. But not all those listed here achieved their place on the list being a full-time professional RFU referee.
Ashley Rowden (logistics), David Rose (sports administration), Tim Wigglesworth (local government, then health & social care) and Sean Davey (teaching & education) all reached these levels alongside full time non-refereeing roles. That’s quite something when you look at the time and effort that goes into operating in a professional sporting environment.
Congratulations to all those making the list. No doubt there’ll be some new members of the Club in the next few seasons.
My thanks to Stuart Farmer, Rugby statistician for the 6 Nations, Lions, Premiership & URC, for supplying the data.
Note: Ian Tempest joined the 100 Club on 29 January 2022
Excellent weekly update.
Thanks John!
Whilst concentrating on the Premiership there are undoubtedly other referees who have refereed as many games, if not more, when the preceding leagues are taken into account. Prior to that there were of course ‘first class’ games – but to include those in a table of games would be extremely difficult
Conngratulations to the 100 club members
If we had the data, we’d be happy to add them in! Pretty sure we know who would be topping the duration of service lists! 55 years refereeing now isn’t it?
Indeed. Got started but stalled 10 days ago with a ligament strain to the right knee.