Henry Mason

Henry Mason’s contribution to the history not just of the HRLRS but also the refereeing of Rugby League in general cannot be overestimated. His work in referee education and development has left a lasting positive effect on the game of Rugby League.

He began his refereeing career all the way back in 1957 when as a 19-year-old he made his debut up at Roils Head to referee Mixenden U17 v Brighouse U17. He remembers refereeing Illingworth’s first ever victory against Huddersfield side Primrose Hill.

It was in November 1964 that Henry passed the Rugby League Referee Examination to move up the refereeing ladder. He refereed the Yorkshire Senior Competition Final in 1968 between Leeds and Hull which the year after he was touch judge for the Great Britain v France international game.

Henry was promoted to Grade 3 in 1970 and his progressed continued until he became a top graded referee in 1976.

In his final year of refereeing, it seemed Henry was in line for the Wembley Challenge Cup, but that year was 1988 and Halifax won through to the Cup final, so Henry missed out. By 1978-79 Henry had been voted Referee of Year in the Pennine League.

Henry was asked by the Leeds Rugby League Referee Society to run some referee training courses. He ran 5 courses for the LRLRS at the Leeds Swimming Pool. These were a great success. It should remembered that Henry had no existing referee course to work with and had to write the whole course from scratch using his years of experience as a senior referee. The subsequent courses in Halifax were vital in getting the number of referees in Halifax up to the required level.

There then came requests from Huddersfield Rugby League Referee Society for sessions which led to Greg McCallum who had been appointed RFL referee coaching director in 1994, to come to a course being run at Headingley. He invited Henry tonto the Referee Coaching Panel and  wanted Henry to be “Chairman of referee recruitment and development.” This was not a job offer but a volunteering opportunity! So, Henry’s “career” as an official referee educator began,  Henry travelled to Rugby League hotspots , Bradford, Castleford, Hull, York, Wigan and Oldham to present the sessions. He also travelled to developing Rugby League areas, such as Ipswich, Holyhead, Dundee, Glasgow, Chester, to the White City in London and held a session for the Army.

In 1996, he  went down to South Africa where local resident Barry Hoolem, an ex-Bradford referee, was going around rugby grounds teaching Rugby League. The two-week trip took in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban.

Henry was involved in two innovations in the Laws of Rugby League. In 1982, he was reserve touch judge for the Great Britain v Australia Test match at Hull. As such, he was responsible for the newly created “sin bin.” When David Ward and Max Crillich (both hookers!) were sent to the sinbin, this was the very first time it had been used in England.

Henry was also responsible for the modified law which forbids players awaiting the opposition to kick conversion to stand between the post.

Peter Clayton, Illingworth’s first ever captain and long term player, when as ked to comment on referees said:

“I played with a lot of referees but the best one was Henry Mason. He talked to players. He would often call into the Illingworth club on his way home from other games,”

Henry became President of the British Rugby League Referees Association and is a life member of the Association.

Henry was a Rugby League referee for 35 years and subsequently a referee assessor.