Nigel Owens
Owens officiating a 2016 United Rugby Championship match | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth name | Nigel Owens | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 18 June 1971 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Mynyddcerrig, Carmarthenshire, Wales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Farmer, rugby union referee, match commentator | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nigel Owens, MBE (born 18 June 1971) is a Welsh former international rugby union referee, who retired in December 2020 after a 23-year career. He previously held the world record for the most test matches refereed and was one of five international referees listed as professional within the Welsh Rugby Union, alongside Craig Evans, Adam Jones, Dan Jones and Ben Whitehouse. He is widely considered to have been one of the greatest rugby referees of all time.
Owens is also known as a television personality, as one of the presenters of the S4C Welsh language chat shows Jonathan and Bwrw'r Bar ('Hitting the Bar'). Owens also hosts his own quiz programme Munud i Fynd ('A Minute to Go'). At the 2011 Eisteddfod Genelaethol, he was made a member of the Gorsedd Cymru.