Last Sunday I had the privilege of helping to referee a Bridgend Athletic rugby festival, staged at Bryntirion School, which involved under eights through to under12s.

An old friend of mine, Rhys Jones, a WRU referee and World Rugby refereeing analyst, asked me six or seven weeks back if I’d take part in a challenge and my immediate reply was yes, provided Pro 14 and travel commitments permitted.

As it was, I refereed Edinburgh v Ulster on the Friday night, so was free on the Sunday.

Actually, I officiated Pontyberem versus Tumble under nines in the morning, before driving on to Bridgend. Between players, officials and spectators, there were a couple of thousand there and the challenge I was handed was to referee every team and every age group, if possible.

These were straight 10-minute matches and I ended up doing four under-eights games, three at under-nine and two under-12s.

What struck me was how much these youngsters enjoyed themselves and the respect everyone - players and spectators - showed to the referee, the game of rugby and the opposition. It was rugby as it should be played, with a smile on the face, but more of the tournament in a moment.

The festival took place a couple of days after someone had sent me a Daily Telegraph article by Austin Healey, who questioned my refereeing and reckoned I had become too much of a ‘celebrity’ because of TV shows and other things .

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I would have thought doing Pontyberem versus Tumble under nines on a Sunday morning, the Bridgend Festival and various community games which I try to say yes to, is a million miles away from being a so-called ‘celebrity referee’.

Be that as it may, what I can tell you is that I’m not even a celebrity, let alone a celebrity ref. I don’t like that thought one bit.

If I got to the stage where I genuinely believed other things were more important, or getting in the way of my refereeing, then it would be time for me to pack up.

It’s the opposite, however. Refereeing for me comes first, second and third.

Yes, I’ve become well known. It would be naive to say otherwise. I guess anybody who referees a World Cup final is going to be in the public spotlight, to a degree. Before that match, I was recognised in Wales, but afterwards things did change quite noticeably. Suddenly people started coming up to me on the Tube in London, which had never happened previously.

But where Austin disappointed me was in saying I put myself on a pedestal. Let me assure you, I do anything but.

It was an honour to be asked to referee the World Cup final. That is the highlight of any referee or player's career. It is what we work towards and I’m no different to anyone else.

The work I do for charity, or when I speak up for inclusion, diversity and equality, also puts me in the public domain, I suppose.

But I don’t do, or say, these things because I want to be a celebrity. I do it because sharing stories helps people. I appreciate being an international referee has given me a profile, but when I speak up on LGBT matters it is because that is what is perfectly normal for me, not because of any so-called celebrity status. or seeking a limelight.

The important thing isn’t Nigel Owens, but the people and causes I’m trying to help.

Again, doing the ‘Jonathan’ show with Jonathan Davies for S4C comes naturally for me, not something I go on because I wish to be famous, or anything like that.

I was doing TV work on S4C and school plays and stand-up comedy on the stage when I was 13-years-old, so I’m comfortable in this kind of environment.

Remember, I started doing ‘Jonathan’ 14 years ago, well before I became a well-known referee.

(Image: publicity picture)

Just like anyone in professional sport, I need to be able to switch off at times and the TV work enables me to do that.

We record it on a Tuesday, which is my day off. It helps me relax, just as Austin, when he was a player, or others might have had a round of golf or whatever suited them to get away from rugby or training for a day.

You have to wind down and relax sometimes. The Jonathan show is a bit of fun, we have a laugh, and it’s a lovely way just to chill out a little for me.

I reiterate, if any of this got in the way of my refereeing, I would ditch it at once. Refereeing is my complete priority and I won’t let anything impinge upon that. I don’t see the connection, though.

I have a choice if I want to referee, speak out against diversity, or do TV work. But it’s not a choice I make to put myself on a pedestal, it’s a choice I make because it is who I am.

Austin is right, I suppose, in saying that I’m there to be shot down. I’m not above criticism. I make mistakes, just like any other referee or player. We are human beings, remember.

Some of the criticism is fully deserved on occasions. We each have days in the workplace where things haven’t gone as smoothly as perhaps we would like.

But what I do find is that if I make an error, it tends to get highlighted twice as much. Fair enough, I take the flak. I don’t block anyone on social media unless it gets over-personal, or you call me a cheat. Then I will block, but by and large I accept criticism goes with the territory and sometimes it can be constructive.

(Image: PA)

But what I do hope is that when people do podcasts or articles about me, they do so for valid and honest reasons. Not just because they know it will provoke a response, with some defending me and others having a go.

Anyway, back to Bryntirion and that wonderful rugby festival. It was just lovely seeing the youngsters play hard and committed rugby, but fair and with a smile on their faces.

The coaches and spectators were fabulous too and it gave me such a warm feeling about our game. They encouraged their team in the right way, but made sure they also applauded a good tackle or cracking try from the opposition, which is something the Welsh Rugby Union are big on and correctly so too.

For me, this was rugby as it should be. Competitive yes, but played in exactly the right spirit.

I asked a couple of the players after one game if they had enjoyed themselves. They were covered from head to toe in mud, too, given it had rained quite hard the day before, but their smiles in response said everything.

It’s great we have got 4G pitches, they have an important role to play in the modern game, bur there’s something to be said for traditional grass pitches and good old fashioned mud on the jersey when it comes to rugby.

Bridgend Athletic is Rhys Webb’s home club and he too reffed a couple of games. He said to me ‘I’m not sure about the rules, Nige’. My response was ‘Well when I’m refereeing you it seems you’re pretty sure about them!’

It was great banter. In fact, the only ‘friendly stick’ I had the whole afternoon was a game where Rhys and Lee Jarvis, who also played for Wales, were watching.

‘Forward pass ref,’ they hollered from the sidelines. Were they right? Let’s say it was flattish, in my opinion, and leave it at that!

It was great to see Rhys there supporting too, showing that not only is he a great player but a great rugby bloke too.

Bridgend Athletic aside, I do get a lot of requests to referee age-grade and amateur matches, not just within Wales but from England as well.

It can be hard to find the time, because of my own training, commitments and travel for Pro14 or international games. But I make a point of never just automatically saying no. If I’m available, I try to help out whenever I can.

Why? Because I feel it’s essential to put something back into the community game.

Junior tournaments like the Bridgend Athletic Festival were where I started myself. I wouldn’t be where I am today without that grounding.

I had a tweet off a junior club in the Pontypool area asking if I could do their under-15s. They put in brackets ‘Obviously we appreciate there’s a cost involved, can you let us know if you can do it?’

I responded straight away by saying ‘I’d be more than happy to come up some time, but there’s no cost.’

(Image: Richard Swingler)

(Image: Huw Evans Agency)

It’s completely voluntary. When I do grassroots matches, talks at schools, or charity games, I make sure I don’t even charge travelling expenses. That would be wrong, in my eyes.

Why? Because it’s only in the last 16 years that I have been a professional referee. The 15 years before that were in the community game. My bread and butter.

I would never have done the World Cup final were it not for everything I learned in Welsh grassroots rugby.

If I can offer something in return, then my view is I should be doing that.

Refereeing always comes first for me, whether at professional, amateur or school level.

Diolch.