Matt Cecchin is an Australian former

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other tit ...

who officiated in the NRL between 2001 and 2021. Cecchin has officiated international matches at the

2011 Four Nations The 2011 Rugby League Four Nations tournament (also known as the 2011 Gillette Rugby League Four Nations due to sponsorship by Gillette) was the third staging of the Rugby League Four Nations tournament and was played in England and Wales during O ...

and 2017 World Cup, and domestic representative matches in all three games of the

2017 State of Origin series The 2017 State of Origin series was the 36th annual best-of-three series between the Queensland and New South Wales rugby league teams. Before this series Queensland had won 20 times, NSW 13 times, with two series drawn. Queensland were the curr ...

Referee career

Cecchin began his career by overseeing Metro Cup matches. He made his first grade debut when he took over from an injured Steve Clark at halftime of a

New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

and

Northern Eagles The Northern Eagles were a rugby league team, that competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) between 2000 and 2002. The club was formed during the rationalisation process of the NRL by the merger of the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and the Nort ...

match on 1 June 2001. His first full first grade match was on 14 July 2001, when he officiated a match between the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a joint-venture ...

and

North Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its tropical northern part has been ...

. He controlled 22 matches between 2001 and 2004. In 2003, he was told the only way he would remain an official was to become a touch judge.This Sporting Life: Matt Cecchin
''smh.com.au'', 2 October 2011 Cecchin returned to first grade in 2008 and has been in charge of finals matches since 2009. He controlled the

2011 NRL Grand Final The 2011 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the NRL's 2011 Telstra Premiership season. It was played between the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and the New Zealand Warriors on the afternoon of Sunday, 2 October, and ...

alongside

Tony Archer Tony Archer may refer to: * Tony Archer (musician) (born 1938), English jazz double-bassist * Tony Archer (referee) (born 1969), rugby league referee * Tony Archer (Archers), fictional character in ''The Archers'' * fictional NYPD bomb expert< ...

. Cecchin was appointed to control the 2010

City vs Country Origin City vs Country Origin was an annual Australian rugby league football match that took place in New South Wales between City and Country representative sides. The City side represented the Sydney metropolitan area. While technically it was Sydney ...

match and refereed in the

. He controlled one match during the 2012 State of Origin series. He was awarded his second Grand Final appointed

2016 NRL Grand Final The 2016 NRL Grand Final was a rugby league match between the Melbourne Storm and the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks to determine the premiers of the National Rugby League for the 2016 season. The match was held at Sydney's ANZ Stadium on Sunday 2 ...

as lead referee along with assistant Ben Cummins. He was appointed lead referee for Game I of the

. In February 2018, Cecchin refereed one

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of ...

match when

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby ...

took their home game against

Hull F.C. Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and wer ...

WIN Stadium Wollongong Showground, known as WIN Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Wollongong, Australia. The stadium was officially opened in 1911. From 1982 until 1998 it played host to every home match for the Il ...

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near w ...

, Australia.

Personal life

Cecchin's father played reserve grade for the

Newtown Jets The Newtown Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Newtown, a suburb of Sydney's inner west. They currently compete in the NSW Cup competition, having left the top grade after the 1983 NSWRFL season. The Jets' home groun ...

. In 2012, Cecchin revealed he was gay, becoming the first NRL official or player since Ian Roberts in 1995 to do so.NRL referee Matt Cecchin says being gay no reason to live in fear
''dailytelegraph.com.au'', 11 February 2012 Cecchin has revealed having panic attacks before a match. He is a mental health ambassador for rugby league.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cecchin, Matt Living people Australian rugby league referees Gay sportsmen LGBT sportspeople from Australia National Rugby League referees Rugby League World Cup referees Year of birth missing (living people)