Former international rugby referee Wayne Barnes said the Prince of Wales promised he had never shouted at him from the stands, as he was made an OBE at Windsor Castle on Wednesday.
Barnes, 45, who refereed the 2023 Rugby World Cup final between New Zealand and South Africa, received the honour from the Prince of Wales for his services to rugby union.
He said he asked William whether or not the prince had ever shouted at him while he was refereeing a Welsh rugby match.
“He’s a patron of the Welsh Rugby Union and many times I’ve run out at the Principality,” he said.
“I did check if he’s ever shouted at me and he promised me that he never shouted at me, maybe some others, but not me.”
He said it was “a challenge” to block out the noise of the crowd while refereeing.
“There’s some intimidating atmospheres out there, Cardiff being one of them, Gloucester, Leicester, in the Premiership, go over to South Africa and have cauldrons like Loftus in Pretoria, and the whole challenge of refereeing is to make sure you’re not distracted, that you’re not swayed by some partisan crowds,” he said.
“That’s probably one of the things that got me through to 111 games.”
Barnes has come under criticism for calls he has made in the past, most recently by former Irish captain Johnny Sexton, who said the referee made the wrong call in the dying moments of Ireland’s quarter final exit from the 2023 World Cup.
“All of those games are reviewed, you felt for the Irish team you know,” Barnes said.
“Obviously, I had refereed the third test down in Wellington when it was one-all in the series against New Zealand and that game was huge in itself.
“In that game we started off with 43 phases of play, finished with 37 phases of play and everyone totally out of juice, the tank was empty on both sides.
“It was just one of those iconic World Cup matches.
“Of course your game is reviewed by independent people at the end of that and they thought I was good enough to referee the World Cup final.
“So I always leave it to others to judge my performance.”
He said a referee’s hardest critic is the referee.
“After a match we’ll sit down in the stadium, little group, and try to improve for the next game,” he said.
“You’ll never get everything right, the same way a player or a coach will never get everything right.
“But we try to improve, but some are more high-profile moments than others.
“If you’re not mentioned after a match as a ref then you’ve done pretty well.”
He said it was “pretty surreal” to receive the honour.
“It’s pretty surreal, being a boy from the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, coming from very much a working class background, brought up by my mum on her own, and now sitting in Windsor Castle with an award having just been presented it by Prince William,” he said.
“It’s surreal but wonderful that the family could come and share the moment with me, it’s as much their award as it is mine.”
