France's top referee Joël Jutge has given up the battle against injury and has decided to quit active refereeing and go into administration.
Jutge has been unable to referee since November 2007 when he was having cartilage trouble and underwent a knee operation. After the operation he spent eight months recovering but all was s till not right and he underwent another operation on the same knee. This meant 10 months of recuperation.
He had hoped to be ready but was forced to withdraw from a club match in France and then from, European Challenge match and then from two Six Nations appointments. He was a strong candidate to referee on the Lions' tour to South Africa.
Jutge was honoured by the French government. Roselyne Bachelot, the Minister of Health, Youth Affairs, Sport and Associations, presented him with the medal of a Chevalier of the Order of Merit (Médaille de Chevalier de l'Ordre du Mérite).
Jutge was born in Lavaur on 5 April 1966. He took up refereeing after a top career as a scrumhalf for Colomiers and then Cahors.
He is not lost to rugby as he will join Joël Dumé and will look after the professional sector of French refereeing.
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