To be a real star, rugby needs a second level. Something that makes one off the field extraordinary.
It's not enough just to be a very good rugby player. Like New Zealand's Beauden Barrett or Ireland's Johnny Sexton. Both meet with their teams at noon in Tokyo (12:15 pm, TV: ProSieben Maxx). Between two of the best teams in the world, it is about the entry into the World Cup semi-final.
But the real star of this game between the All Blacks and the Men in Green is Nigel Owens. He is one of the poster boys of rugby, although he does not play. Owens is a referee, one of the best known and arguably one of the best in the world. And certainly the most entertaining.
"This is not Soccer!"
Owens highlight videos are viewed millions of times on YouTube. In rugby referees are equipped with microphones. TV viewers can follow the conversations of the officials with the players and learn, for example, whether a team in the game receives an advantage, or why a player is penalized.
Owens pushes this transparency to the extreme, his sayings have long been legendary. "This is not Soccer," he once said to a player who was dissatisfied with a decision. During a game at the Premier League club Newcastle United, he recommended a pro who dropped a bit theatrically that he would like to be back in two weeks.
The microphone on his chest Owens becomes an entertainer, the rugby field becomes his stage. Already in 2015 he whistled the World Cup final.
In 2007 Owens publicized his homosexuality
Owen's way there was tough. The 48-year-old made his homosexuality public in 2007. Ten years after he tried to kill himself. When he tried to deal with his sexuality, he became depressed, he once said. "I think the hardest job anyone can do in life is to accept who you are," says Owens. Only after his attempted suicide did he learn "to live my life in honesty."
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Nigel Owens is one of the stars of rugby sport
Accepting who you are is often difficult in modern professional sports. Gay soccer players like Thomas Hitzlsperger come out after their careers. Rugby looks even more masculine, even more martial. Owens calls it a "macho world". The Australian, Israel Folau, was suspended by his national association after he threatened, among other things, homosexuals on Instagram that they would go to hell.
He wants to tear down walls in his head
In a post for "The Sports Chronicle" in mid-September, Owens did not address Folau directly, but against homophobia: "I can not help it," he wrote. "All I can control is being myself and hopefully helping others by doing exactly that." He wants to tear down walls in his head. Sometimes even with borderline humor. During a game he said after an inaccurate objection: "I'm straighter than that one" - "I'm more heterosexual than this litter".
Owens is probably the most exposed referee in the world. But he does not just want to entertain with his offensive appearance. He also wants to be a role model.
He already helped a teenager. Owens reported in his post on a letter he had received after it became known that he would become World Cup referee. In it, a mother wrote that her 16-year-old son wanted to commit suicide. When he heard about Owen's path, his own attempt to kill himself, and his career as a homosexual rugby referee, he confided in his parents. "That's changed everything for the family and the healing process for the boy," Owens said.
And that is very extraordinary.