At this time of year, with the NRL season so close, my mind always wanders back to the worst season promo of all time – Tom Keneally’s 1999 poem. It was a shocker, featuring repetition of the “Blow that whistle, ref” line.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of Keneally’s books, he’s a great writer. One of his books, Schindler’s Ark, Steven Spielberg made into the film Schindler’s List, which won seven Academy Awards.

From all reports, Tom is a great bloke and big rugby league fan too.

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The NRL asked him to come up with the poem, but he was on a hiding to nothing. It was never going to resonate with rugby league fans like Tina Turner’s ‘Simply the Best’ or Chumbawamba’s ‘Tubthumping’ anthems.

But I certainly remember Tom’s poem, so maybe, in an advertising sense, it did its job.

That repeated line always gets me thinking about referees too.

They have a tough job. Like players, refs make mistakes, have good and bad days, and without them there is no game. Try reffing for yourself if you ever want another perspective – even at junior games, teenage referees will cop abuse by parents treating matches as if they are NRL games.

Anyway, there certainly have been some memorable referees over the years. Below is a list of my favourites, and some enduring memories of each. Some were great referees, some were characters, some were both.

Gavin Badger

‘The Badge’ has some great facial expressions – the beard he grew in 2015 was a career highlight. And he loves referees so much that he married one, his wife Kasey.



Tony De Las Heras

Will always be remembered for one incident – getting in the way of a rampaging Tonie Carroll. You can relive that sickening knee to the head below. It never gets old.

Bill Harrigan

Where do you start? He was a great referee who loved the big call. Like the penalty try in the 1999 Melbourne vs St George grand final, and the Gorden Tallis send off in Game 1 of the 2000 State of Origin series.

And what about his hair in the Super League era?

Barry Gomersall

‘The Grasshopper’ was loved by Queenslanders, but hated south of the border. When it was pointed out to him that New South Wales won only two of the nine Origin games he refereed in the 1980s, he famously replied “surely anyone’s entitled to two bad games?”

Mick Stone

Long before the days of video referees, Mick Stone made one of the best high-pressure calls in State of Origin history. In Game 1 of the 1987 series at Lang Park, he allowed Mark McGaw’s 80th minute try to clinch the match, correctly ruling that he had grounded the ball centimetres inside the dead-ball line.

And proving he wasn’t intimidated by the Lang Park crowd, in Game 2 of the 1988 series he sent ‘The King’ Wally Lewis to the sin bin for backchat, sparking the crowd to throw beer cans on the field in protest.

David Manson

He will forever be in Origin highlight reels as the man standing between Wally Lewis and Mark Geyer as they famously squared off in Game 2 of the 1991 series.



Eddie Ward

Eddie will always be remembered for Balmain’s Steve Roach patting him on the head after being sent to the sin bin for backchat in 1990. Roach received a four-week suspension for breaking the golden rule that you never touch a referee.

Greg Hartley

Always controversial, in the late 1970s and early 1980s ‘Hollywood’ was said to favour Manly. His decisions in a Parramatta versus Balmain game in that era outraged a female Eels fan so much that she famously ran on the field to complain in the middle of the game.

Julian Rascagneres

A theatrical French referee who didn’t seem to speak much English, Rascagneres preferred to communicate with his gestures.

He controlled a few Test matches Australia played in the 1980s, and in keeping with European traditions, he used the red card to send Les Boyd off against Great Britain in 1982.

Bernie Pramberg

One for diehard Brisbane league fans, Bernie was a great referee in the city’s local competition in the 1970s. He later went on to become a well respected sports journalist.

Which referees do you rate, either on this list or not, and what are your favourite moments?