All,
There's a lot of negativity around referees in the media/social media these days, so let me point you in the direction of a lifelong family friend and local legend, Stan Whittaker.
Stan took up refereeing at the age of 21 and packed in last year at the age of 83! He refereed me from the age of 8 until I was 16, he was a no nonsense kind of ref, proper old school. Not one for giving out cards freely, he would call you over, read you the riot act and then shout out his catchphrase "I'm in charge here young man, now get on with it" and wave you away. This often brought cheers from the home team parents,many of which had been told to get on with it, and their grandads too!
I still see Stan every Saturday in the summer, when I drive an hour to my old stomping ground to play for the local cricket club, like I have done every season for the last 24 years. He gets looked after like royalty and deservedly so. At the weekends he's always in and around local sport but in the week you'll see him in and out of the co op buying shopping for many old folk on his street who can no longer get out. He's truly remarkable.
I've many stories about Stan but my favourite is when I used to help out coaching the local kids team. The club committee wrote to the FA to get him honoured as we thought he may be the longest serving ref in the UK. The FA wrote back, thanking Stan for his service, but they werent able to honour him officially as they'd never heard of him. He'd never registered in all those years, never sent a single card in!!
I'm not sure if he played a part in me wanting to be a ref when I finished playing, I first passed my old level 3 exam for the Cheshire FA 19 years ago (I never took it seriously, just reffed a few games when I wanted some money) and shared a dressing room with Stan. Such a great character.
It's these local people who prop up football in our villages and towns across the UK. I'd hate to think how many 100s of games across the decades would have had no referee if it wasn't for Stan. I've attached the link to a local article below for those interested.
Enjoy
https://www.derbyshirelife.co.uk/pe...old-football-referee-from-new-mills-1-5346283
There's a lot of negativity around referees in the media/social media these days, so let me point you in the direction of a lifelong family friend and local legend, Stan Whittaker.
Stan took up refereeing at the age of 21 and packed in last year at the age of 83! He refereed me from the age of 8 until I was 16, he was a no nonsense kind of ref, proper old school. Not one for giving out cards freely, he would call you over, read you the riot act and then shout out his catchphrase "I'm in charge here young man, now get on with it" and wave you away. This often brought cheers from the home team parents,many of which had been told to get on with it, and their grandads too!
I still see Stan every Saturday in the summer, when I drive an hour to my old stomping ground to play for the local cricket club, like I have done every season for the last 24 years. He gets looked after like royalty and deservedly so. At the weekends he's always in and around local sport but in the week you'll see him in and out of the co op buying shopping for many old folk on his street who can no longer get out. He's truly remarkable.
I've many stories about Stan but my favourite is when I used to help out coaching the local kids team. The club committee wrote to the FA to get him honoured as we thought he may be the longest serving ref in the UK. The FA wrote back, thanking Stan for his service, but they werent able to honour him officially as they'd never heard of him. He'd never registered in all those years, never sent a single card in!!
I'm not sure if he played a part in me wanting to be a ref when I finished playing, I first passed my old level 3 exam for the Cheshire FA 19 years ago (I never took it seriously, just reffed a few games when I wanted some money) and shared a dressing room with Stan. Such a great character.
It's these local people who prop up football in our villages and towns across the UK. I'd hate to think how many 100s of games across the decades would have had no referee if it wasn't for Stan. I've attached the link to a local article below for those interested.
Enjoy
https://www.derbyshirelife.co.uk/pe...old-football-referee-from-new-mills-1-5346283
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