AN ABERGAVENNY man who is the oldest Welsh international referee and was the closet person on the pitch to Gareth Edwards when he scored 'that' try against New Zealand, celebrated his 90th birthday on Tuesday.

Ernie Lewis enjoyed a successful career as a top flight rugby player before turning to refereeing, and last week he made a special birthday visit to the Millennium Stadium to view the new international honours board erected for Welsh referees.

Ernie is the proud head of a a rich Monmouthshire rugby dynasty. His son is former WRU chief executive Steve Lewis, and his grandsons Rob and James, are current London Welsh professionals and Wales age grade caps.

Ernie played briefly for Newport, but spent most of his career with his home town club Abertillery and Ebbw Vale, where his prolific scoring set records in 1949-50 and 1950-51. His 198 points in 1951-52 (198), the season when Ebbw were crowned Welsh champions, made him the leading points scorer in Wales - a title he held until 1974-75 when it was broken by his son, Steve.

Ernie became one of the leading outside halves in Wales and was a regular member of the Monmouthshire County side. He also played against Australia (1947) and New Zealand (1953) for a combined Abertillery & Cross Keys side at Abertillery Park.

Ernie took up refereeing in 1956 and quickly established himself as one of the leading referees in the game. He refereed many Barbarians games and was touch judge at many international games including the 1973 Barbarians v New Zealand game when Gareth Edwards scored his legendary try.

He refereed every major touring team in the world – Australia v Llanelli in January 1967, New Zealand against Limerick in 1967 and against Cornwall & Devon 1973, Canada against East Glamorgan in 1971, Japan against West Glamorgan in 1973, Springboks v Munster in January 1970, - and was named by the Springbok management as the British referee who most impressed them on that tour. He was also the first British referee to take charge of a game involving Fiji, when they met a Bridgend and Maesteg XV at the Brewery Field in 1964.

Never afraid to lay down the law, the diminutive Ernie once sent-off the legendary Pontypool, Wales and British Lions forward Ray Prosser in a club game.

The highlight of his refereeing career was the international cap he was awarded for officiating at the France V Australia match at Toulouse in December 1971.

His recollections of that game are clear, if not all rosy, "It was the first of two Tests on the Australian tour of France. Unfortunately, there was a recent history of bad blood between the two sides and neither team wanted to play rugby on the day. It was not a comfortable place to be, and I had to deal with several unsavoury incidents. When I awarded an important penalty to the Aussies the crowd began to stir and when the game ended with France losing 13 - 11, I needed a police escort to get

to the dressing room."

After a lifetime spent playing, refereeing and watching rugby, Ernie believes that most of the advances in the game are for the better, and explained, "The game has changed for referees in many ways for the better, most obviously the technical advances and the assistance of, what were previously called the linesmen in getting decisions right – that is so important in the professional age. In my day the ref was on his own and the linesman was there purely to indicate where the ball had gone out of play and whose throw-in it was."

Yet Ernie is quick to caution, "Unfortunately, I think some of the fun has gone out of the game and there is little opportunity for some of the respectful and often humorous banter that used to go on during the game between players and refs."

After retiring as a referee, Ernie went on to become a WRU referee assessor and President of the Welsh Society of Rugby Referees. Ernie also helped to nurture many young rugby players during his many years as a schoolteacher, with former Wales and British Lions centre Arthur Lewis naming him as the "biggest influence on my career".

Steve Lewis, who accompanied his father to the Millennium Stadium said, "The creation of the International Referees Board in the Millennium Stadium to mirror the International Players Board is a great move by the WRU. Throughout the years Wales has consistently produced some of the finest referees in the world and I am extremely proud to see dad's name recognised on the board with other great referees and which will stand for the life of the game. I am very grateful to Roger Lewis for allowing his 90th birthday to be celebrated this way and to Rob Yeman for organising the day. It shows the respect with which he is still held in the refereeing fraternity in Wales."