James Child (born 4 July 1983) is a former English

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. He was one of the

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England, and until 1995 for the whole British Isles. The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the main league competition run by the organisat ...

's Full Time Match Officials. On 19 December 2022, Child announced that he would be stepping down as referee, ahead of the 2023 season.

Referee career

James started refereeing at the age of 11 years as a member of the Dewsbury & Batley Rugby League Referees' Society. Since then he has enjoyed many notable successes, particularly as a touch judge having officiated at the 2006, 2007 and 2008

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involve ...

Finals, the 2007 and 2008

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of w ...

Grand Finals and most notably the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since its 1954 Rugby League World Cup, inauguration in 1954, and the first since the 2000 Rugby League World Cup, 2000 tournament. The tournament was held ...

Final. As a referee, his first professional game was Gateshead Thunder v Workington Town on 17 April 2006, before making his

debut on 15 March 2009 with Wakefield Trinity Wildcats v

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons (French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. The team competes in the Super League and are the only team from outs ...

. This came a week after he officiated the

Rugby League Varsity Match The Rugby League Varsity Match is an annual rugby league match between Cambridge University and Oxford University. The first Varsity match took place on Sunday 26 April 1981 at Craven Cottage. Past winners See also * Student Rugby Leagu ...

between

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

at the Twickenham Stoop. On 11 January 2010, he was promoted to the RFL's elite refereeing squad for 2010's

Super League XV The 2010 Super League season (known as the Engage Super League XV for sponsorship reasons) was the 15th season of the European rugby league football competition, Super League. Fourteen teams competed for the League Leaders' Shield over 27 rounds ( ...

. In December 2022, Child retired as a match official after more than 10 years.

Personal life

He is a member of the

Dewsbury Dewsbury is a minster and market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Hudd ...

and

Batley Batley is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. Batley lies south-west of Leeds, north-west of Wakefield and Dewsbury, south-east of Bradford and north-east of Huddersfield. Batley is part of the ...

Rugby League Referees' Society. He combines his role as

referee, with a part-time job as a Chartered

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ...

for

Leeds City Council Leeds City Council is the local authority of the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in West Yorkshire and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of England, and provides the majority of ...

. In February 2021, in an interview for BBC Sport, Child confirmed that he is gay, something known to his family, friends and colleagues for some time.

References

External links

RFL profileRL sourceDelighted James joins ranks of RFL's top refereesOfficiating in RL World Cup final is Child's play
1983 births Living people English rugby league referees Gay sportsmen English LGBT sportspeople Rugby League World Cup referees Sportspeople from Dewsbury {{England-rugbyleague-bio-stub