Rugby league mourning the death of popular former referee Dennis Spagarino

The refereeing world is in mourning following the death of popular former whistle-blower Dennis Spagarino on Monday.

Spagarino only handled 22 games in the 1980s but was a giant in the refereeing game.

He coached junior referees for decades, was a video referee and became Chairman of the NSW Referees Association.

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Spagarino, aged 62, was a life member of both the Referees Association and NSW Rugby League.

When former Prime Minister John Howard brought in the Australian Sports Medal in 2000 to celebrate the new millennium, Spagarino was among the first recipients.

He developed motor neurone disease in recent years and eventually died due to complications from the illness.

Spagarino's family hailed from Italy but he was born in North Sydney.

"He was as Aussie as they come but loved his Italian heritage," former Referees boss and grand final referee Michael Stone told Wide World of Sports.

"When he realised how serious his illness was, he went back to Italy to say goodbye to his relatives, which was nice.

"Funnily enough back in his early refereeing days, then ARL boss Kevin Humphreys appointed him to handle a Schoolboy Test between England and Australia - declaring "he is a neutral ref" and we often joked with him about that.

"But you could not have found a nicer bloke and I never found anyone, anywhere anytime to say a bad word about him."

Spagarino is survived by his wife Karen and daughters Debrah and Joanne. He had four grandchildren.

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