Henry Edward Perenara (born 16 June 1980) is a New Zealand

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

referee and former professional footballer who represented

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. He played as a , though he could also play in the . He is also the first NRL referee in history to send off a player for an alleged bite, he sent Kevin Proctor off in the Round 14 match of 2020, when Cronulla-Sutherland played against the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

Background

Perenara was born in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. He is a brother of Marcus Perenara and is a cousin of

Sonny Bill Williams Sonny Bill Williams (born 3 August 1985) is a New Zealand heavyweight boxer, and a former professional rugby league and rugby union player and as of recently is working for Stan Sports. He is only the List of dual-code rugby internationals#New ...

, and

Hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

and

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

halfback TJ Perenara.

Early years

Attending

Lynfield College "Learn to Live" , established = 1958 , principal = Ms Cath Knell , address = White Swan Road,Mt Roskill,Auckland , coordinates = , type = State coed secondary, years 9–13 , roll = () , decile = 6N , MOE = 7 ...

, Perenara played for the New Lynn Stags and

Bay Roskill Vikings The Bay Roskill Vikings are a rugby league football club based in Mount Roskill and Blockhouse Bay, New Zealand, who compete in Auckland Rugby League's Sharman Cup competition. The club was established in 1979. History The club was formed in O ...

and represented the New Zealand Secondary Schools team in 1998.''New Zealand Rugby League Annual '98'',

New Zealand Rugby Football League The New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in New Zealand. SPARC, 2009: 13 The NZRL was founded on 25 April 1910 in preparation for a tour of Great Britain that same year.Coffey and Wood ''T ...

, 1998. p.181

Playing career

In 1999, while under contract to the Warriors, Perenara played for Auckland North in the National Provincial Competition. He was part of the

Glenora Bears The Glenora Bears are a rugby league football club based in Glen Eden, New Zealand who compete in Auckland Rugby League's Fox Memorial competition. History The club was established in 1931 Auckland Rugby League season, 1931 when the Auckland ...

side that dominated the

Auckland Rugby League The Auckland Rugby League (ARL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league in the Auckland Region of New Zealand. It is responsible for rugby league in the region, including both club and school rugby league. It began in 1910 when the fi ...

competition that year, winning the Roope Rooster, Ruataki Shield and Fox Memorial.Junior Kiwi enjoys life in fast lane
''Sunday Star-Times'', 19 September 1999 Perenara played for the

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby leag ...

St. George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 after a joint-ve ...

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are a rugby league club based in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia that participates in the National Rugby League. The first fully professional rugby league team based in the state, the Storm entered the competition in 1998. ...

Auckland Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

and

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

competition.

Referee career

Perenara retired as a player in 2007 to join the

's referee cadet programme. He made his first grade referee debut in 2011. He was to make his Test debut on 6 October however the scheduled Test between the

New Zealand national rugby league team The New Zealand national rugby league team (Māori: Tīma rīki motu Aotearoa) has represented New Zealand in rugby league since 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird of ...

and the

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

was cancelled. Instead, Perenara's Test debut came on 29 October 2011 when he controlled the Four Nations match between

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. He was named the 2011

New Zealand Rugby League The New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in New Zealand. SPARC, 2009: 13 The NZRL was founded on 25 April 1910 in preparation for a tour of Great Britain that same year.Coffey and Wood ''T ...

's referee of the year. He is one of only four New Zealanders to play for

and referee a test match. In mid April 2021 Perenara retired at the age of 40 due to a heart condition. Perenara revealed to the Daily Telegraph he had been diagnosed with supraventricular tachycardia, an abnormally fast heartbeat that causes shortness of breath, dizziness sweating or fainting.

References

External links

Henry Perenara Official Player ProfileNRL player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perenara, Henry 1980 births Living people Auckland rugby league team players Bay Roskill Vikings players Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks players Glenora Bears players Melbourne Storm players National Rugby League referees New Lynn Stags players New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand rugby league referees New Zealand Māori rugby league players New Zealand Māori rugby league team players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand Warriors players Parramatta Eels players People educated at Lynfield College Junior Kiwis players Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Auckland Rugby League World Cup referees St. George Illawarra Dragons players