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Rugby World Cup final referee Wayne Barnes calls for action against trolls for 'vile' abuse

Rugby World Cup final referee Wayne Barnes has labelled social media abuse towards him and his family as "vile" and called for the trolls to be held to account.

The 44-year-old English official's last match was one of his most challenging, with Barnes showing the first ever red card in a men’s World Cup final to New Zealand captain Sam Cane during South Africa’s 12-11 victory in Paris.

It was among a number of contentious decisions made by Barnes, who announced his retirement five days later having taken charge of a record 111 Tests.

"When people make threats against your wife and kids, they should be held to account and punished," Barnes said in an interview with BBC Sport.

"Threats of sexual violence, threats of saying we know where you live. It crosses that line."

Barnes (above) feels maintaining a social media presence was important for him to promote charitable work and also to explain officiating decisions, but accepted with that "comes the ability for people to send messages of hate and violence".

He said: "If you’re a fan at your local rugby club and you’re sending vile messages to people’s families and making threats, why should you be able to be involved in the rugby family?

"I want prosecuting agencies to consider ways of doing that (tackling online abuse).

"I want legislation of what social media sites can do to prevent it and I also want governing bodies to consider what they can do."

Watch Ulster v Munster in the URC on Friday from 7pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1 Extra

Watch Dragons v Leinster in the URC on Sunday from 1pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player

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