GARETH Hewer has happily swapped a shift at Sellafield after being appointed as referee for Saturday's Ladbrokes Challenge Cup final at Wembley.

The 34-year-old engineer from Cumbria will become the first part-timer to referee the final since 2006, when the decision was taken to operate a full-time panel of Super League officials.

Hewer, who has been refereeing since he was 16, admits he was stunned when he got the nod from Rugby Football League match officials director Steve Ganson ahead of the seven full-timers to take charge of the clash between Hull and Warrington.

"But I was overwhelmed and over the moon to be honest," he said. "The two semi-final referees are usually in the hat for the final and lots of people kept saying 'I think you'll get the final' but you don't believe it until it's confirmed."

It was the telephone call Hewer thought he would never receive after turning his back on the chance to go full-time, a decision which caused him plenty of angst at the time but has become vindicated by a change of policy at the governing body.

"I'm happy at Sellafield, where I'm an engineering team leader," Hewer said. "I enjoy my day job and I'll have a great pension at the end of it.

"Rugby is my hobby and, if I went full-time, it would be my occupation and you know what happens with occupations when things are not going too well. Sometimes you can get down. I do like the rugby as well but I prefer to keep them separate.

"It was a difficult decision at the time. Stuart Cummins was in charge then and he asked me on a couple of occasions to go full-time but he understood I had a decent job.

"When I came out of Super League in 2007 and was just operating in the lower leagues, I thought that's my opportunity gone and sometimes I used to think 'I wish I'd gone full-time'.

"But the new regime came in last year and now it doesn't matter whether you're full-time or part-time. Steve just wants the best referees for the best games. There's more encouragement now and this is the proof of the pudding.

"I think I'm refereeing almost the same but, because of the games I've been getting, I'm refereeing with a bit more confidence."

As a part-time referee, Hewer is emailed a training plan by the coaching team who can monitor his fitness via a GPS watch and he attends twice-monthly training and video sessions in Wigan or Leeds.

That inevitably means disruption to his work commitments but Hewer does not work weekends or Bank Holidays and is also grateful for understanding bosses.

"A lot of them are rugby league supporters or have played the game," Hewer said. "They allow shift swaps and it's never really an issue getting time off."

Hewer has swapped a shift to enable him to travel with his wife and three-year-old son to London on Friday and will leave his mates behind to watch him perform on his big day.

"We normally go out for a few drinks in the afternoon and catch the game somewhere," he said. "This time it will be a bit different.

"It's going to be an electric atmosphere, which will probably be overwhelming but we'll have to build into it, take all the atmosphere in and see how it goes from there. We're going to the stadium on Friday for a walk-around, to get used to the surroundings.

"Obviously it's the biggest game of my career. But when you set off as a young lad refereeing youth rugby on a Sunday morning, as I did, it's always your ambition to referee a major final.

"It's like a dream come true, to be honest."