My name is Ben Thaler. I'm a former Super League and international Rugby League referee, and I'm the current national match officials manager at the Rugby Football League.
I started refereeing when I was 12. It was throwing it down, doing a paper round every day for about eight quid, and my mate told me that you could get a tenner to referee an under 10s, under 11s game. So I did, and I refereed four or five a week. It was quite a nice little hobby to have.
I was refereeing, I'd gone to Ponte College, and then what do I do? Should I go to university? I got offered a place, which was Leeds Met at the time, to do Business Information Management. It was great. Met some amazing people. It was actually while I was at the university that I got promoted onto the senior refereeing panel. So I was just gone 20 when I was promoted to a Grade One referee.
It's 32 years now since I started refereeing, and I think now I said I did it for a hobby and because I didn't want to do a paper round, but there is a career there for people now. There weren't before, and you can travel the world, which I never thought as a 12-year-old that I would go on to do.
One thing that I always aimed on is you got the respect of the players, managing a game was always easy. I think the best referees are those who can communicate, use common sense, and build relationships with players, which allows the games to flow.
So my business degree that I did here really did help me in my career ahead. The experiences that I learnt, sometimes in the classroom or in lecture theaters, you could take out into life how you manage and things like that. All those are transferable skills onto a rugby pitch.
To be inducted to this year's Sports Hall of Fame is a great honor. It really is. And to look at some of the people who I'm along with is absolutely amazing that my name is beside them. From some lad who just got into refereeing for a bit of fun, to come back 22 years after I left this university, to be honoured in such a way, it really is a privilege for me and my family.
2004
2026
