Veteran whistleblower Matt Cecchin will leave the NRL at season’s end over “vile” abuse and mounting pressure on referees. Ahead of taking charge of his 300th NRL match as Penrith meet Canberra on Sunday, the 44-year-old told Fairfax he would quit the competition and retire unless an opportunity in Europe’s Super League arises.

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He made the decision after not being picked to oversee Origin I this season following a difficult 12 months for the leading referee. Cecchin revealed the scale of death threats he and his family received after a late-game call in last year’s World Cup semi-final between England and Tonga.

He correctly disallowed a try to Tongan front-rower Andrew Fifita as he was stripped of the ball near the tryline. But later that night New Zealand police rushed Cecchin out of the country after informing him of “hundreds and hundreds” of abusive messages, some of them death threats.

Cecchin also flicked through his phone to discover more than a thousand “vile” attacks, the likes of which he’d never encountered across his entire career. The whistleblower, who has talked openly about his mental health battles, said negative referee “noise” had taken its toll this year and he “needs a long break”.

“The reality is that after that game, and for the first chunk of this year with all the noise that’s been out there, it’s been tough. Really, really tough,” he said.