Chris Kendall | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1992-06-03)3 June 1992 (age 32) Huddersfield, West Yorkshire |
Christopher Kendall (born 3 June 1992)[1] is an Englishrugby league referee. He has been a match official at theRugby League World Cup and took the lead at multipleSuper League Grand Finals.
Kendall playedrugby league for theNewsome Panthers as a child before moving toHuddersfield Giants at academy level.[2] He played as ahalfback, being first choice for this position ahead ofNiall Evalds, which encouraged the latter to try out forSalford instead.[3] Kendall also officiated matches at community level.[4]
After his junior playing career, he joined theRugby Football League referee cadet programme, saying he thought the programme was a great opportunity for people to stay in the sport after playing. He began refereeing matches, initially as atouch judge, in 2012, before becoming a grade 1 referee in 2013. He was appointed a full-time match official in July 2015.[5][1]
In 2017, he was selected to be a touch judge at the2017 Rugby League World Cup;[6] earlier that year he had faced some major criticism when theLeigh Centurions owner lambasted referee decisions in theSuper League, singling out the first-half performance of Kendall in a match Leigh lost to nothing.[7]
He had a breakout year in 2019, officiating several high-profile matches in the UK and abroad,[1] including serving as referee for the2019 Super League Grand Final, his first Grand Final appointment in any role.[8] He also refereed the2020 Grand Final.[9]
In January 2021,International Rugby League approved him to their elite panel of international match officials, saying he was honoured to be selected for the pinnacle of refereeing.[10]
Following a tense match in August 2021, in which Kendall gave a match ban to a player for abusive language towards him during an altercation, Kendall was removed from his next match and sat out fixtures for a week. He had previously been outspoken about the negative effect players being verbally abusive to referees has on the sport.[11] In June 2022, he was verbally abused and physically touched byBernard Guasch, owner ofCatalans Dragons, after a match, leading to Guasch receiving a stadium ban; Guasch responded by saying that he did not want his team to play under English referees.[12]
Kendall served as thevideo referee for a crucial Super League match in April 2022, controversially overturning two early decisions, putting defending championsSt Helens behind (they came back to win).[13] Kendall found himself on the other side of this situation in a July 2022Magic Weekend match; he initially awarded a latetry toHull KR, which would have seen them win if not controversially overturned by the video referee.[14] In another match a few days later, Kendall gave a straight red card to a player for touching a potentially injured player; while it was agreed that was the punishment for breaking the rule, its enforcement for the second time in the season saw coaches question if thelaws should be so strict.[15]
He is set to referee at the2021 Rugby League World Cup in October and November 2022.[16]
| Year | Championships[a] | Challenge Cup | Super League | World Cup | Other int'l[b] | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2014 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2015 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 2016 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 16 |
| 2017 | 4 | 2 | 23 | 1 | 0 | 30 |
| 2018 | 7 | 3 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 34 |
| 2019 | 2 | 3 | 32 | 0 | 2 | 39 |
| 2020 | 0 | 3 | 19 | 0 | 1 | 23 |
| 2021 | 2 | 3 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 25 |
| 2022 | 5 | 2 | 27 | 1 | 0 | 34 |
| Total | 26 | 23 | 156 | 3 | 3 | 211 |
Notes
In 2022, Kendall had a son, Max. After posting about the birth onTwitter, he received hate messages, including a public reply death threat.[18] He had previously left social media in 2020 after receiving abuse from fans, both for his calls and because the fans were angry they were unable to attend matchesbehind closed doors during theCOVID-19 pandemic.[19] The first episode ofBetfred'sRugby League Front Row Heroes short documentary series, produced near the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, was about Kendall; in it he described his volunteer work for theNHS andKirklees Council.[20]