Yemen New Referee Boss

Former international referee Robert Yeman will take over from Clive Norling as the Welsh Rugby Union’s director of match officials.
The 48-year-old, Taibach-based Yeman will take up his new appointment this summer.
Yeman began his refereeing career as a teenager with the Aberavon and District Society in 1974 and quickly graduated through the ranks. He was appointed to the WRU list of referees in 1978, joined the first-class list in 1981and was elevated to the international exchange list in 1986.
In 1992 he became part of the three-man Welsh international panel and took charge of his first Test at Lansdowne Road in 1993 when Ireland hosted Romania. A year later he refereed the Welsh Cup final and went down under to control his second Test between New Zealand and South Africa in Auckland.
With the 1995 World Cup beckoning, Yeman had the misfortune to sustain an injury prior to the Ireland v France Five Nations match which brought an end to his on field career.
Having been forced to hang up his whistle prematurely, Yeman remained heavily involved with rugby and between 1996-2001 he took up the role of helping to develop potential International Panel Referees. This in turn led to him being named as an IRB ‘A’ Panel Advisor and being invited to become one of eight advisors to the Rugby World Cup referees later this year.
Vice chairman of the Welsh Society of Rugby Union Referees between 1999-2002, Yeman has also been closely involved with the appointment of Welsh referees for European and domestic matches in the past three years.
WRU group general manager Steve Lewis said:
“Robert is an outstanding referee, with a breadth and depth of experience in Welsh Rugby that it would be difficult to parallel and we are all looking forward to working with him to the future good of the game.”