It will be 53-year-old Gary's second trip to Brisbane for the competition. He went Down Under three years ago when he missed out on refereeing the final because of a pulled hamstring.

"I picked up the injury the night before the final between Australia and New Zealand and was very disappointed to miss out – hopefully I might get another chance this time," said Gary, of the Foords Hotel in Filey.

He is one of two referees from England going out to the world cup, which features 16 countries, with the three-week tournament starting on Thursday.

Gary, who is on the Scarborough Pirates committee, has already done plenty of travelling while working for the European RL Development, going to countries as far afield as Russia and Serbia to encourage refereeing and the sport of rugby league generally.

Son Ben also has a bright future in the sport. He is captain of his side at Filey School and is highly regarded as a prop or loose forward, with his reward being a call-up to the Yorkshire squad.