BEN THALER will hang up his whistle after this weekend’s Betfred Championship fixture between Wakefield Trinity and Doncaster, to take up a new role with the RFL in the recruitment and development of match officials.
The 43-year-old, from Normanton, has refereed a remarkable total of 441 Super League fixtures since his debut in 2005, and his overall tally of more than 700 senior matches is thought to be second only to the late Fred Lindop MBE, who was a major influence on Thaler’s career, along with the late John Holdsworth.
He is part of an elite group of officials to have refereed at all of the sport’s major events, taking charge of the World Club Challenge between Leeds Rhinos and Melbourne Storm in 2013, the Challenge Cup Final at Wembley and the Grand Final at Old Trafford in 2015, and earning selection by the International Rugby League for the World Cups of 2013, 2017 and 2021.
He was appointed video referee for the 2017 World Cup Final, when England lost to Australia in Brisbane, and as a member of the RFL’s first full-time panel of match officials in 2006, he also became one of the first regular video referees, having officiated at many more major finals in that capacity – including five Challenge Cup Finals and 10 Super League Grand Finals.
He will remain available as a video referee in his new role.
Tony Sutton, the RFL’s Chief Executive, said: “On behalf the governing body and the wider sport of Rugby League, we thank and congratulate Ben for his refereeing career.
“Officiating in any sport can be as demanding as it is essential. To maintain a position among Rugby League’s leading officials for more than two decades has required physical and mental commitment and resilience.
“I’m delighted that Ben has taken up a new role with the RFL which will allow him to share his vast experience with future generations of match officials, as well as continuing as a video referee – and wish him a successful last game in the middle at Wakefield this Sunday.”
Ben Thaler said: “I still remember receiving support as a pupil at Normanton Freeston High School in 1994 to do my refereeing course. I’m now Chair of the Governors at the same school, so it must have been a long time ago.
“If you’d said to me then that I’d be retiring as a referee 30 years later, after 20 seasons refereeing in the Super League with so many incredible memories and experiences, working along side some amazing Officials and having refereed some of the best players in the World, I’d have thought you had a very good imagination.
“Refereeing has changed so much in the 24 years since my first professional game [Leigh versus York at Hilton Park in the Northern Ford Premiership – Thaler having outlasted both the ground and the competition].”
Thaler refereed his first Super League game London Broncos versus Leigh at Griffin Park in 2005, and the following year was part of the RFL’s first full-time squad of referees.
“I never anticipated it being a career for me,” he added. “When I started, that wasn’t an option, so I class myself as being very fortunate. After doing a lot of work in the past in recruitment and development of young match officials, I’m looking forward to a new challenge and concentrating on that role, and giving something back to the sport that I have been so lucky to be part of at the highest level for almost 25 years.”
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