Pablo Deluca is a rarity in the modern professional game in that he is still an amateur referee. Although having more than 20 years experience to his name, he combines this refereeing role with that of a full-time lawyer in his native Argentina.
The 40 year old took his first tentative steps as a referee while still a teenager in 1980, taking charge of youth games while still playing as scrum-half or wing for Liceo Militar in Buenos Aires.
Deluca, the only referee from the Americas zone on the IRB merit panel, spent 12 seasons with Liceo Militar in the First Division before taking charge of his first game at that level in 1992, two years after his retirement as a player.
His first international appointment came in the inaugural SANZAR/UAR Under 21 Tournament in 1995, held in Argentina, with his first Test being England’s 54-21 defeat of Italy at Twickenham on November 23 1996.
Since then Deluca, a touch judge in Rugby World Cup 1999, has refereed every major Test nation and had the honour of being the first Argentine to control the Hong Kong Sevens final in 1999, a Six Nations game in 2000 and the Rugby World Cup Sevens final in 2001.