Success surprises referee Berdos
Referee going places
Christophe Berdos, the top French referee, experienced recently the full range of ups and downs.
On one weekend he went off to Moscow to referee a World Cup qualifiers between Italy and Russia. Grand experience.
The next weekend he went off to Dublin to referee a Heineken Cup match between Leinster and London Irish, sent there because Nigel Whitehouse of Wales had had to withdraw. Berdos did not finish the match.
Innocent referee, he clashed – accidentally, of course – with big Owen Finegan, the Wallaby now with Leinster. This opened a head wound which forced Berdos to leave the field, to be replaced by his touch judge Eric Gauzins who had been with him on the trip to Moscow.
It was a new experience for Berdos, but then refereeing is full of new experiences. They happen match by match. It also happens to a referee as upwardly mobile as Berdos is.
Christophe David Berdos was born in rugby-mad Tarbes in Hautes Pyrénées on 17 April 1970. He is a professional referee, which did not happen suddenly as he has been refereeing for 18 years already.
"I started refereeing when I was 18 years old. I couldn't play because of shoulder injuries. I had injured my shoulder four times. I was young and I had only two options for staying on the 'rugby planet' – coaching or refereeing. I was too young to coach players. So, I had only one solution – to referee.
"I remembered my start, It was a game between two very hard teams and I gave my first red card against a player. There was a great fight and I saw nothing but all the people said me: 'Number 4 Blue off, Number 4 Blue off, and so I thought to myself: 'OK, Number 4 Red card!'"
In 1988 Berdos joined the local referees' society, Armagnac Bigorre, where Claude Carrère of Lourdes helped him. He was first a trainee referee and the got into France's Fédéral system, winning the Best Young Referee award in 1994.
In 2002 Berdos refereed his first match in the exacting French championship, and since then his world has expanded. "I have visited lots of countries – South Africa, Australia , Russia, Argentina, Canada and others."
His best rugby memory? "The final of the Under-21 World Championship in Argentina in 2005."
In the most recent change to the International Rugby Board's panel of referees Berdos has been promoted to the top panel of 20 referees. In the top 20 in the world, along with Stuart Dickinson, Steve Walsh, Jonathan Kaplan, Chris White, Nigel Whitehouse, Alain Rolland and his compatriot, Joël Jutge. He says: "It’s a big surprise when I remember how I started."
He adds: "But even if I'm a professional referee, for me it’s not a job but a passion and a pleasure."
