Ref Robert blows the whistle on his dream: a date at Wembley

Reporter: Martyn Torr
Date published: 30 September 2014


Martyn meets...Rugby Super League referee ROBERT HICKS

RUGBY League referees — like referees in any sport — are a much-maligned and much misunderstood bunch in need of a thick skin.

Quite why they do the thoroughly thankless task is a mystery to many. But without this vilified vanguard how would sport exist, let alone thrive?

What would dedicated sports fans do for our sporting fix if there weren’t people like Robert Hicks - at 31 a man at the peak of his powers, one of only six full-time Rugby Super League referees?

That’s right, only six - with another 10 who train part-time with the elite group and 50 others who can officiate when required.

Robert was one of the three officials in charge of the Tetley Rugby League Challenge Cup Final at Wembley in August when Leeds Rhinos beat Castleford Tigers. He was an assistant ref - and admits that one day he would like to be the man in the middle.

“That’s one of my ambitions, definitely. I have probably got another 15 years of refereeing to achieve that, but whether I will ever be good enough is another thing altogether. That’s for others to judge.”

You will gather that here is a young man with his feet firmly on the turf. He’s already one of the top referees in the country yet he still challenges himself. During our chat he was charming and honest to a fault about his shortcomings.

If Robert, who comes from devoted rugby league stock, is as disarming on the field I suspect he has little trouble controlling the hideously fit human torpedoes in the Super League teams.

Robert’s father Ray played for Oldham and Blackpool and his late grandfather Ken Fisher was chairman of Oldham and president of Saddleworth Rangers. His father has been landlord at the Three Crowns in Scouthead for 36 years.

That Robert is a student of the game is quickly apparent as we settle in to talk about his sport.

Did I know, he asked casually, that Oldham is a hot-bed of rugby league and that four Oldhamers took part in that Challenge Cup final?

Aside from himself there’s Oldham lad Kevin Sinfield, who captained Leeds to glory, and Castleford’s Marc Sneyd and Lee Jewitt.

So why didn’t he play rather than becoming a ref?

“I played a little at Hulme Grammar - union not league - but basically I wasn’t good enough,” he admits

Being hopeless at a sport which he clearly loves did not stop him enjoying being a fan at Watersheddings.

He was at the game in 1989-90 when Oldham got agonisingly close to reaching a Wembley final: “It was the ref’s fault, no question. I was devastated. It was definitely the ref’s fault that we didn’t make Wembley. Maybe that’s why I became a ref...”

He took up refereeing as a youngster, quickly made his mark and was soon in charge of the Oldham Schools Cup. His potential was obvious early on, and he learned when to blow his whistle and when to talk to a player.

He won lots of awards for his officiating and took charge of a North-West Cup Final, sending off four players: “It was certainly a baptism of fire, but I was named Your Referee of the Year so I must have got something right.”

After qualifying from Leeds University with a law degree, he spent a year at Manchester University completing his Bar vocational course, though didn’t manage a pupilage (to join a firm of barristers as a junior) and spent his post-uni years working at his father’s pub and travelling.

“I was earning a wage from dad and with my refereeing money I was able to travel. I enjoyed a Caribbean cruise, went on a safari to Kenya and travelled to Australia to watch a rugby tour.”

Life was good for young Robert and got even better when he landed a solicitor’s job with Oldham firm North Ainley Halliwell.

“The people there were brilliant with me. I was supported in my career and in my rugby, being allowed time to travel to games. But I like to think I gave back with my commitment, working late at night and on Saturday mornings to make up the time.”

All the while his refereeing career was flourishing. He came to the attention of the Super League elite in 2010, refereeing televised games virtually every week, and was in charge of the Northern Rail Cup Final and the championship Grand Final. He was also named the Championship’s Referee of the Year and was offered a place on the Super League panel. That meant training two days a week - a step too far for his legal career. He agonised over what to do.

“Eventually I had to give myself a chance to work in the sport I love. How many people get to the chance to work at an elite level in sport?

He quit the Oldham legal practice - albeit with a heavy heart - and took a part-time legal post in the refereeing department in Leeds, training two days a week with the game’s top officials.

Three years on he is one of them, training full-time and combining that with his job at Super League headquarters as legal compliance manager.

The evening of the day we chatted he was on the line for the Hull derby and the next day would download the Opta stats of the game and review his performance.

“We get under one per cent of decisions wrong — that’s not me, that’s all of us. We look at why we made a decision and why we got it wrong.

“There can be lots of reasons: position, unable to see through the crowd of players... a host of reasons.”

One thing this amiable young man hasn’t got wrong is his lifestyle and career choice.

He deserves to do well and if people shout and scream abuse well, he understands.

After all, he still blames the ref for Oldham not getting to Wembley 25 years ago...