From Edlington to England: The story of elite rugby referee Llyr ApGeraint-Roberts

He went on to officiate at a host of major international matches at both home and abroad, spending many years as an ‘elite’ referee before stepping down to National Panel level.

This is the story of that remarkable rise.

Llyr’s first involvement in sport began in the late 1980s when he says he became mesmerised by the Tour de France cycling races shown on Channel 4. He also played mini-rugby for Bangor, whilst also playing football in the street and attending swimming and gymnastics clubs.

He went on to play rugby for Bangor under 16s and even represented Bangor juniors at cricket.

But it was cycling in which he excelled, going on to represent Wales at junior level.

His interest in cycling changed, however, when he attended Liverpool University, then part of the Chester College of Higher Education, and started to play rugby, turning out for Chester in midweek and occasionally for North Wales Coasters’ rugby league side on a Saturday.

Llyr studied sports science and wanted to understand how the body responded to exercise and adapted to training. When he completed his university education, he took an extra year gaining a teaching qualification, before obtaining a job in South Yorkshire teaching PE at Edlington School.

It was here he met a young lady, Helen, who was later to become his wife. She came from North Yorkshire and they both wanted a place so that they could live together - somewhere in the middle.

Llyr said: “She won, so I started cycling again, and rode for the Universal Cycling Club – without much success – before I returned to rugby again.”

He explained that when he first arrived at his school they had not played rugby for about 15 years and when he refereed his first game, a year 7, under 12s match, he felt totally out of his depth.

It was this embarrassing occasion that persuaded him to find out how to referee properly.

Llyr’s head of department supported his aim and sent him on a training course.

The rest is history.

He joined a local referee’s society and completed his first match in charge in 1998.

He was quickly promoted, which he says was partially down to his young age but also his fitness and the fact he had some playing experience.

Llyr became the fastest promoted referee ever to come out of Yorkshire and joined the National Panel of Referees in England in 2002.

He was soon included in a select group consisting of the top 45 referees in England. This fact created something of a paradox because, as a patriotic Welshman, he then had to wear an English rose on his shirt whilst officiating.

In 2010 Llyr was invited to join the “Elite” Group of Referees in England, which at that time only included just 12 top referees.

His love and passion for the game created countless opportunities worldwide and he was put in charge of several prestigious rugby matches in South Africa, Romania, Ireland, France, and Italy.

He even refereed a cup final in Russia, an international schools tournament in Japan and the World Student Championships in Portugal.

Llyr was rapidly in demand at both home and abroad and has refereed numerous Premiership matches on Sky Sports and ESPN. He also refereed in the Women’s Six Nations, including Wales v Spain and France v Scotland.

But he says his biggest games involved being appointed as reserve referee for some of England’s full internationals. These included England v Samoa and England v South Africa.

He has refereed several times at Twickenham, which he claims was a ‘fantastic experience’ and appeared in front of the notorious ‘Shed’ at Gloucester.

Llyr says that nowadays supporters are often too quick to criticise referees, bemoans the use of television scrutiny and wonders how many other people could deal with the pressure.

He said: “The RFU would not appoint a referee to a game if they felt he couldn’t cope with it. There is too much at stake. I think this is true of any sport but it is very easy to point the finger.

“Unless you have experienced being in the middle of a cauldron in a large stadium, with players knocking lumps out of each other in front of thousands of fans, how can anyone make these criticisms? We are all human and humans make mistakes. We can’t be perfect, but we can strive to be accurate.”

Llyr admits that refereeing at the highest level, and all the associated travelling, whilst trying to hold down a full-time job as a PE teacher, and being a husband, and a father to two young boys, took its toll, and proved a very difficult task. He says he had to make too many sacrifices to reach the top and praised his wife and family for their continued support.

In 2013 he decided enough was enough and stood down from his “Elite” group status but continues to referee at National Panel level, just below the Premiership. He is now 47 but he is still fit and able to run around with the players.

He confirmed how the sport has changed and said when he was refereeing a match recently, he was older than the combined ages of his assistants.

He remains pleased that he came out of the top group and now welcomes the chance to spend more time with his wife and family. He also helps to coach other referees.