Brian Barry: Beloved former first grade footy touch judge celebrates 100th birthday
He is NSW’s oldest living former first grade rugby league ref and one of the most respected figures in the game — and he’s just turned 100.
Manly
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One of the most respected and beloved figures in NSW rugby league has scored another major milestone — his 100th birthday.
Brian Barry, a popular touch judge and referee who officiated in close to 300 first grade games and five grand finals at the SCG, hit the century mark on Tuesday.
Now Mr Barry, a retired tram and bus driver from Mosman who served his country as a soldier on the battlefields of New Guinea in World War II, will celebrate with 240 family and friends at Balgowlah RSL on Saturday night.
As well as his distinguished career officiating in first grade – kicking off in 1958 – including 16 times as the centre referee and about 275 times as a touch judge, Mr Barry ran the line in Test matches between Australia and New Zealand.
He was called in to several Interstate Series games between NSW and Queensland, before State of Origin started in 1980 and also carried the flag in Sydney versus Country representative matches as well as during the now defunct Amco Cup knockout series, before he retired in 1978.
Mr Barry, whose wife Rose died in 2016, is the oldest living former first grade referee and a life member of the NSW Rugby League Referees Association.
He received NSW refereeing’s most prestigious award, the Eric Cox Medal in 2022, for services to officiating and is still an ambassador for the association.
And he’s still an active member of the North Sydney District Rugby League Referees Association and a lifelong fan of the North Sydney Bears.
One of the stories sure to get a run at his party will be about the notoriety the “touchie” gained when he was hit in the groin by a well-aimed apple thrown from the crowd at the SCG during the end of the replay of the 1977 grade final between St George and Parramatta.
Mr Barry had to be treated by medics on the sideline before he was replaced by an another official.
“The ball boy said to me ‘do you know what hit you Mr Barry?’.
“I said ‘no’, but he said it was an apple.
“I said ‘go and see if you can find the bloke and give him a box of chocolates. He deserves it, he got me right in the you-know-what's.
“By the next Sunday I was black from my knees to the pit of my stomach. It was a good shot, I can tell you. It really did some damage.”
Mr Barry, who has one daughter, Susan, two grandchildren and three great grandchildren, said staying active and having a “bloody good partner” were the two most important things to having a long life.
“If you have a good partner, who sticks with you and you talk to each other, that’s the biggest factor of your life.”
“It’s because of Rose that I’m where I’m at today.
“She was the love of my life.”
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