Nigel Owens may be one of the most recognised and best-known people in Wales — and indeed throughout the world of rugby — but it is not unknown for him to be caught under the acid rain of criticism.

At a Scarlets-Ospreys derby in Llanelli a few years ago, a chap sitting near the press box spent pretty much the whole match berating the official who lives just 12.8 miles away in the Carmarthenshire village of Mynyddcerrig.

The man machine-gunned expletives at Owens, reloaded and did so again, becoming increasingly irate as he loudly accused him of bias in favour of the visitors.

It made you wonder if Mr Angry had paid money just to shout at the referee or to enjoy a game of rugby.

Certainly the two activities seemed mutually exclusive on the day.

(Image: South Wales Evening Post)

Whatever, most people have positive tales to tell about Owens, who sets a Six Nations record for a referee this weekend when he takes charge of the France v Ireland game in Paris, his 18th match in the tournament. That is the pin for this interview.

Before we meet at the Vale Resort, I strike up a conversation outside in the bright sunshine with Neil Roberts, coach of a disability cricket team in North Wales, who is attending a function at the venue that evening.

On learning I am there to interview Owens, he relates a story about the West Walian refereeing a game in North Wales and opting not to go into the dressing room at half-time as the players had done. Instead, Owens stayed on the pitch and took charge of a game involving children. “It was brilliant,” says Roberts. “He seemed a heck of a nice bloke.”

Welsh refereeing superstars

Wales has had big-name referees before. Clive Norling was a superstar official of his day, complete with bubble perm at one point. He bestrode matches, blessed with seemingly bullet-proof confidence. Norling appeared to relish the fame and was brilliant at what he did, keeping games flowing and empathising with players.

Phil Bennett once told a story about Norling officiating in a match between Pontypridd and Llanelli.

Bennett felt Norling had missed a crooked home throw at a line-out and told him so, only to be informed: “Get on with it. You’ll have one yourselves if you’re patient.”

Ten minutes later a forward pass by a Llanelli player was duly overlooked. As he ran past Bennett, Norling laughed: “See, I told you these things even themselves out.”

Like Norling, Derek Bevan became arguably the best referee in the world.

He was hugely popular.

It is said that even when he had a bad game — which wasn’t often — people cut him slack because he commanded such respect, especially in Wales. He had credit in the Bank of Public Opinion.

Maybe, just maybe, Owens has a wider public reach again, not least through social media with his 311,000 Twitter followers.

A celebrity official?

When we sit down to talk, it isn’t long before the perception of him as a celebrity referee is raised. After all, with his on-pitch flamboyance and regular appearances on television — he is a regular on the Welsh language TV programme Jonathan — he is undeniably high profile.

I lob in a quote from the late American singer Janis Joplin, who once said: “I love being a star more than life itself.”

(Image: Jonathan Myers)

In cricketing terms, Owens dances down the wicket and hits the ball clean out of the ground: “If I was to tell you I didn’t enjoy the profile, then I’d be lying,” he says.

“But how can I put this?

“I didn’t go looking for that profile — it came to me. I was on stage at 14 years of age doing stand-up comedy in Mynyddcerrig Workingmen’s Club, then I did some TV work while still at school. Then with the refereeing and the coming out as gay, people just came to know me.

“So it’s grown.

“But I never did the TV stuff at a young age because I wanted to be famous.

“I did it because it naturally came to me.

“I suppose I was quite funny as a kid, saying jokes. Then I did a bit of acting, but I didn’t do any of that because I wanted to be well known.

“It happened because I guess I was quite good at it.

“I didn’t become a referee because I wanted people to recognise me in the street.”

The serious side

Owens has done a thousand interviews and his answers are lengthy but always interesting and sometimes amusing. But he can do serious if someone wants him to.

In his younger years he went to hell and back, agonising over his sexuality, culminating in a suicide attempt. He became hooked on steroids for a while, and as recently as last month his battle with bulimia resurfaced.

But an alien from another planet would not believe those are chapters in the back-story of the chap sitting across the table.

He is as good-natured as can be, without any airs and graces and seemingly without a care in the world, a man enjoying life. If it is an act, it is a good one.

He continues on the theme of his mega-profile, acknowledging that it has increased since he came out but stressing: “I didn’t choose to be gay.

“I didn’t come out because I felt: ‘If I come out now it will raise my profile as a referee’.

“I came out because I had to for my own state of mind, my own wellbeing and my own health.

“If I hadn’t accepted it and been true to myself, I wouldn’t be here today.

“So by just being me, everything has happened.

“I do accept that when you have 311,000 Twitter followers, in people’s eyes you are, I suppose, a mini-celebrity.

“But I don’t look at it like that.

“I appreciate what people think and say. I make the most of it and I suppose to a degree I enjoy it.

“But I try to use social media constructively as well.”

The letter from a mother

It is impossible to believe Owens could be anything but super-confident after witnessing him speak at the Guinness PRO14 awards last season. Others on stage that night in Dublin were obviously nervous, but he was funny and at ease, not fazed one bit.

But he insists: “I’m quite a shy guy in some circumstances. If I walk into a room and there’s a lot of people there, I’m not loud or confident. If I see someone I know really well, I’ll go stand by them and speak to them.

“The confidence I have here speaking to you and on the stage or on the field is very different from how I am in some other social environments.”

He then tells a poignant story about how others have been helped by hearing of his experiences.

“After the World Cup in 2007 I had the Stonewall Gay Sports Personality of the Year award, The Times did an article and so did Wales on Sunday, and I had a letter from this woman whose 16-year-old son had tried to commit suicide twice in the space of seven or eight weeks,” he says.

“They didn’t know why and were really worried he might try again.

“He had read this article about what I’d been through, about how I’d try to take my own life and about my coming out, and he’d heard his mum and dad speak about me.

“Someone had apparently said: ‘Did you know Nigel Owens is gay?’ And either the mum or dad said: ‘It doesn’t matter if he’s gay or not’.

“The son heard this and thought: ‘If they don’t care whether Nigel Owens is gay, then they’d be OK with my situation’.

“So he went downstairs and said to his mother: ‘Look, mum, I have something to tell you. The reason why I tried to take my own life is because I’m gay’.

“His mum wrote a lovely letter thanking me and saying it had basically saved her son’s life.

“I read it and I cried.”

The rise and rise of a boy from Mynyddcerrig

Owens started as a referee after missing a conversion in front of the posts during a schoolboy game and a teacher, John Beynon, suggested he take up the whistle. Much has stemmed from that one episode: the stellar career as an official, including a World Cup final; the global travel; two books; recognition throughout the game and beyond; admiration; respect.

His on-pitch one-liners are celebrated — mugs and T-shirts have been produced bearing the legend “This Is Not Soccer”, the advice he once dished out to Treviso’s Tobias Botes — and his wit is not at the expense of his authority. When Owens is on the pitch, there is only one person in charge, and everyone knows it.

That said, not everyone laps up the way he does things.

“You hear people say: ‘Bloody Nigel Owens again, I’m fed up with hearing his voice. Referees should be seen and not heard’,” he says.

“I’d agree with them to a point.

“But the reason we are heard is because every game you referee is live on telly and you are wearing a microphone. Referees didn’t ask to have microphones — we were asked to do it because the authorities and the TV people wanted those who are not traditional rugby followers to understand what’s going on so the game could be grown.

“I’d be more than happy to referee a game without a microphone.

“But I understand how beneficial it is for the growth of the game.”

Norling's rocket fuel

Owens speaks affectionately of Bevan — “I don’t think I would have achieved what I’ve achieved without his support and influence” — while it was Norling who rocket-fuelled his career, turning up at a match in a senior assessor’s guise and overruling a subordinate who had delivered a negative verdict on Owens.

“This chap from Cardiff came in to see me after a game,” says Owens.

“He told he wasn’t convinced I should go up to division three from division four because I’d missed a lot of offsides.

“The next minute Norling comes in and the man who had just been talking to me said: ‘Oh, Clive, I didn’t know you were here’.

“Norling was totally different, without any negativity.

“He said: ‘How do you think it went, Nige?’

“I thought I’d be clever and I said: ‘I think it went OK, but perhaps I missed a couple of offsides because this chap here has just told me that’.

“Norling said: ‘No. I thought your refereeing of the offside line was excellent. You refereed very well and I’m going to suggest you jump three grades and go all the way up to grade one’.

“That was the kick-start for me.

“If Norling hadn’t come to the game that day, I may not be where I am today.”

Owens’s senior bow came at a Swansea-Caerphilly match at St Helen’s in 2000.

“It was Gavin Henson’s first game for Swansea and my first game at that level,” he recalls.

“There was an oldish reporter who wrote a lovely article in either the Western Mail or Wales on Sunday. He came into the changing room before the game to wish me luck and put together a piece saying a star was born in Gavin Henson today but also the next star of refereeing in Nigel Owens. It was lovely and I still have a cutting of it at home.”

Six Nations record

Setting a new mark for Six Nations officiating is something Owens is justifiably proud to do, though he insists: “I’m not refereeing because I want to tick boxes and reach milestones.

“I didn’t even know it was a milestone until I was told.

“That said, when these marks do come along they’re nice to appreciate.

“The Six Nations is a great tournament, the greatest outside the Rugby World Cup because it’s so unique.

“There’s a magic about it.

“When I was driving here today, I was listening to Wynne Evans on BBC Radio Wales and he put on a clip of Bill McLaren commentating, because Wynne was talking to Paul Thorburn about Paul’s massive penalty against Scotland in 1986.

“I was listening to the commentary and thought: ‘Crikey!' "The hair was sticking up on the back of my neck.

“It took me back to being a kid and taking a sweep around 20 houses in Mynyddcerrig with people paying 10 pence to guess the score. I’d then go over to the club with my dad and do the same, with the winner getting £50.

“I remember in the club as a 14-year-old watching the game and listening to Bill McLaren’s voice.

“It all came back flooding back, listening to that clip.

“I really do appreciate at times like that how lucky I’ve been to be involved for 11 years.”

Retirement

When will the 46-year-old retire as a referee? “I have a contract with the WRU until June 1, 2020,” he says.

“If I feel as I do now, I can’t see myself finishing then.

“The key is that I’m good enough and still enjoying it.

“Whether I’ll be good enough to still do it at Test level, who knows? It may be a case of finishing at that level and doing some PRO14 or maybe just doing some Premiership games in Wales.

“It’s flexible.”

Highlights

The clock is on wheels but there’s time to ask Owens for some career highlights. A favourite game he refereed was an under-12s match between Pencoed and Cwmbran. He had been in charge of a European match between Leicester and Ulster the night before and surprised the youngsters by turning up to officiate at their game the following morning.

“As I was checking the boys’ boots, a little winger in the corner shouted over: ‘I hope you are going to ref this game better than you reffed last night’,” laughs Owens.

The greatest game he controlled was South Africa v New Zealand in 2013 — “incredible pace, skill and intensity” — while his toughest match was between Samoa and South Africa at the World Cup in 2011. It even led to death threats.

“Samoa were in the same group as Wales and there was a possibility they could go through if results went their way,” recalls Owens.

“They didn’t want me reffing that game, because I was a Welshman.

“I just felt a lot of extra pressure.

“It was hard, very physical, with a lot going on.

“I had death threats on social media afterwards.

“But I go out just to referee.”

Last but not least, the best player he has refereed? It is a question he ponders over for a good 10 seconds before saying: “It’s difficult because Dan Carter was the best fly-half and Richie McCaw the best openside.

“But, overall, I’d say Shane Williams, because he was so small and because of what he did in games — beating players, scoring tries. Everything was stacked against him, but he just kept doing amazing things.

“If I had to pick the best player, he’d be the one.”

When he does finish, how would he like to be remembered?

“I don’t care if people think I was great or average at what I did,” he adds.

“But if they say, ‘Nigel Owens was a fair and honest referee’, that’s enough for me.”

It shouldn’t be too much to ask.