CHALLENGE CUP FINAL: Leeds v Warrington
Venue: Wembley Stadium Date: Saturday, 28 August Kick-off: 1430 BST
Coverage: Live on BBC One, HD and BBC Sport website from 1405 BST; commentary on BBC Radio 5 live and online; text commentary on BBC Sport website and mobile phones. Pre-match coverage from 1330 BST on Red Button

By Richard Silverwood Challenge Cup final referee

Silverwood will take charge of his second Cup final, his first at Wembley

To be appointed to take charge of the Challenge Cup final is the pinnacle of any referee's career.

I have done it once before in 2006 at Twickenham for St Helens v Huddersfield but to do it at Wembley this weekend for Leeds v Warrington is really special.

I started going to finals at Wembley when I was about 16 and was at the last one there between Leeds and London in 1999.

The greatest Wembley Cup final moment for me was the 1994 final between Leeds and Wigan, when Martin Offiah scored his length-of-the-field try.

I started refereeing at the age of 13 - it was just something I fell into, when someone came to the club I was playing at and offered to do a refs' course.

It wasn't something I'd had any great desire to do before then but once I got into it, it became my goal to be the youngest-ever Cup final referee.

When I did my first final in 2006, aged 30, I missed out on that by only a couple of months to Russ Smith.

Unlike the players, the officials have a pretty low-key build-up week before the final.

I've been for my pre-match haircut - what there is of it left - and on Thursday we travel down to London, train on Friday and then try to take it easy before having a look around the venue on Saturday morning.

It is hard not to be distracted and to treat it as just another game but I think it's important that we do.

There will be 26 players out on that pitch who are anxious enough as it is so I have got to try to stay as relaxed as possible - if I show nerves, it rubs off on them, so I need to set the platform for both teams to play as well as they can.

I watched both semi-finals as a neutral, and the other week I watched the recent game between the sides at the Halliwell Jones Stadium as research.

It's not so that we go in with pre-conceived ideas, but it's good to know what traits certain players have so you can nip any misdemeanours in the bud by talking on the run and keeping the game going rather than having to stop and start blowing the whistle.

My ideal scenario for Saturday would be an exciting game with a low penalty count, where the best team wins with no controversy - after all, I realise 90,000 people haven't come to Wembley to see me blow my whistle all afternoon!

Richard Silverwood was talking to BBC Sport's Julian Shea.

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