It’s something many people clearly share, that feeling that here is someone with no side to him, as they say: an open book, a referee who has been loved by players even when they’ve been on the losing side. Yes, the losing side. Most importantly, it was to take place under the Welsh Rugby Union banner, not England’s. I was really grateful to the RFU and Tony Spreadbury for listening to me, but deep down, as a proud Welshman who loved working for the WRU, I always wanted to remain in Wales for the next part of my journey.” Reflecting upon that today, Owens says that letter writer, an elderly gentleman in his 60s, has done as much as anyone to help fight discrimination because his actions brought the matter to light.

Coupled, of course, with those epic on-pitch lectures to players which ended up becoming social media sensations. 'This Is Not Soccer', a dressing down given to 22-times capped Italian player Tobias Botes who was showing dissent, is the most famous of the lot. The slogan actually appears on the front cover of the book. Owens, then 44, says he understood the wish to bring through the next generation of referees as well, but explains he ‘wanted some piece of mind' as he had no intention of finishing. At its nadir was the night he armed himself with pills, a bottle of whisky and a shotgun and walked up a nearby hill intending to end his life.

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Of all the sayings and stories in this warm and affable memoir there’s one that stands out rather. It derives from Owens’ one and only visit to take charge of a game in Gilfach Goch. For whatever reason, once more people found my comment amusing. It wasn’t about that, it was about ensuring the values of our great game were being properly respected and upheld. My contract was due to run out on 1 June 2016, so not long after the end of the tournament,” Owens writes in the autobiography. It ended up with me genuinely asking, 'Do people really find these things that funny, because I certainly don't?' I know from personal experience what some people may be going through, those who might be struggling coming to terms with their sexuality in the way I once did. Or whatever their troubles may be.

My village of Mynyddcerrig [in Carmarthenshire, west Wales] had bunting and flags out, everyone in the working men's club that week enjoying themselves and people coming from everywhere. It was in the main a story of acceptance, even though he has faced some homophobic barbs and poison pen letters, not to mention death threats following some of his on-field decisions. Switching from Wales to England didn’t seem right though, particularly after the enormous support most at the WRU had given me down the years, including my two previous referees’ managers, Bob Yeman and Clive Norling. I certainly didn’t want to walk out on that, but the stand-off over a new deal was forcing my hand and at one point I was considering the move."It's been a stressful week so the game itself has been far from my mind this week with the TB testing, which can be heart-breaking if the result is positive - but thankfully everything was negative and all was good thankfully. That moment made sure he "refereed every game afterwards as if it was a World Cup final," whatever the level. Newcastle were playing Norwich at St James’ in a fortnight and again, in my eyes it was merely a reference to some of the play-acting that can blight football and I was letting Hogg know what he did wasn’t acceptable. I don’t know why I uttered those particular words, maybe I’d watched a few football games beforehand and saw attempts to con the referee which annoyed me? We'll have to see, but this could be my last Test match at the weekend. So there is a bit of a realisation around the fact that this could be the last time I walk out on to the field for a Test match.

With no sign of a new contract, I now knew that I might have a bit of a fight on my hands to still have a job as a professional referee come the summer of 2016.He also outlines what happened with other on-pitch comments which charmed the rugby public at large, and even the players on the receiving end of the dressing downs. Let me explain exactly how that one happened. There had been a bit of a hoo-hah over gamesmanship after the 2010 football World Cup in South Africa, plenty of chatter in the media about players rolling around, diving to try to con the referee into giving a penalty, or running up and surrounding him to complain about decisions. Nigel Owens has revealed a fabulous story about the Queen which put him at ease during perhaps his most embarrassing moment. He has also had huge success as media pundit, as TV presenter, star of adverts and his warmth and affability always shining through.