Aimee Patricia Barrett-Theron (born 27 June 1987) is a South African

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

former player, and currently a referee on South Africa's Premier Panel.

Playing career

She could play as a fullback,

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16� ...

and played in various forms of the game – 15-a-side rugby union,

rugby sevens Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...

and

touch rugby Touch rugby refers to games derived from rugby league in which players do not tackle each other but instead touch their opponents using their hands on any part of the body, clothing, or the ball. A formal, competitive variety, known as Touch ...

. Aside from rugby union, she works as a biokineticist. She represented KwaZulu-Natal at domestic level between 2005 and 2008, and Western Province between 2009 and 2012. She also represented South Africa Women at Under-20 level in 2008, at senior level between 2008 and 2010 and for the sevens team between 2008 and 2012. Her records includes appearing at the 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Refereeing

She also took up refereeing, joining the

World Rugby Women's Sevens Series The World Rugby SVNS, known as the HSBC SVNS for Naming rights, sponsorship reasons, is a series of international rugby sevens tournaments for women's national teams run by World Rugby. The inaugural series was held in 2012–13 as the successo ...

circuit and being included on the refereeing panel for the 2016 Olympic Games. In December 2016, shortly before making her refereeing test debut for a 2017 World Cup qualifier between

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, she was included on the South African Rugby Referees' Association's National B panel, becoming the first female referee in history to do so. The South African became the first female referee to reach forty tests, when she took charge of England vs New Zealand on 14 September 2024.

Personal life

In her 30s, she was diagnosed to reveal his

autism Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing d ...

diagnosis.

References

South African female rugby union players Living people 1987 births Rugby union players from Cape Town Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union centres Rugby union fullbacks South African rugby union referees Women rugby union referees SARU referees South African women referees and umpires Super Rugby referees South Africa international women's rugby sevens players South Africa women's international rugby union players 21st-century South African sportswomen Autistic sportspeople {{SouthAfrica-rugbyunion-bio-1980s-stub