RateTheRef

On another thread there are contributions as to how referees are remembered or forgotten which leads me to ask who was the the first National List referee you remember seeing live ?  My first ever League match was at Darlington in 1961. It would have been just after Christmas as we always stayed with my grandparents in County Durham for the festive season at that time. Sadly I do not recall the referee's name nor indeed much about the match at all ( even the opponents I'm afraid ) but I do remember finding a ten bob note on the terraces as we were leaving....and ten bob was a lot of money in those days especially to a young boy. It probably sparked my life long interest in football !  Incidentally I remember seeing a programme note about that wonderful refereeing character John Kirkby from Sheffield where he described the highlight of his career as " finding a five pound note on the ground in the car park after refereeing Derby County "

Anyhow back to the question. It was at Portman Road and the referee was Ray Tinkler ( Boston )  Other early remembered sightings were Maurice Fussey (Retford), Gordon Kew (Amersham) and Malcolm Sinclair (Guildford)
 

A temporary mental block when writing that previous post. 

For the 1957 game against Arsenal, I went with a friend and his father but still don't recall the referee.

However, the following season saw the terrible Munich tragedy and my father took me to the 5th round FA Cup tie against Sheffield Wednesday some 10 days after the crash in Feb'58.  I'm pretty sure the referee was Alf Bond from London, a remarkable referee who had only one arm.  I again went with my father to the 6th round replay against West Brom which United won with a last minute goal from Colin Webster when thousands were locked outside the stadium. The name of that referee does alas escape me.   

My first memory was at Luton late fifties/early sixties and the one I remember most was a B.A.B Buckle a tall gangling person with a large bushy moustauche - I have never seen any other mention of him but I believe he was on the list for a few years

According to Daddy bmb the first foreign referee I saw was Palotai Károly.  My Dad had tickets for the European Champions Cup final at Hampden Park in May 76, I was barely out of nappies and don’t remember the game but he told me he took me, it was my first really big game & I was more interested in the referee than either team. I saw Palotai 2 more times, thanks to my Dad, who also took me to the UEFA Super cup final in December 1978 - it was my birthday treat! Finally we went to the European Champions Cup Final in May 1981. I remember that one well.

Domestically Dave Allison was my first love, again according to Daddy bmb. Can't remember if he was playing or coaching but Dave Allison was AR and a very smitten albeit tiny bmb declared she was going to marry the linesman instead of Mr Spock.

My Dad taught me right from as soon as I could stand to go and shake the referees hand after every match and thank them for coming to referee, he was very strict on respect towards the referee, he'd fine any players who showed disrespect and I got grounded for 1 month for singing a certain song as a young teen! I was always conscious of the referee before I even knew the difference between them and 2 teams of players. My Dad said my biggest smiles as a baby were always towards the referees and not the players, I suspect he is joking but who knows!

Quote from: Hendo on Sat 30 Apr 2022 17:17

1st watch was being invited by a school friend to watch his beloved Everton v Bristol City in, I think, 1976. We were both 17 at the time. It was a dire game I seem to recall with Everton winning 2-0. The referee was either Bob Perkin or Roy Capey, can’t quite recall which.
In my youth i tended to watch Carlisle more than any other team as they were my “local” though I lived almost 50 miles away. The 1st Carlisle game I ever attended was reffed by George Flint of Stockport.
My only visit to Old Trafford was on a hospitality outing as we were hosting a German visitor to our office. It was the controversial brawl v Arsenal in 1990 reffed by Mr Hackett

Wasn't GE Flint from Kirkby-in-Ashfield (Notts)?

TVOS, you are indeed correct. It was George Nolan, not Flint, from Stockport who I meant.
My apologies

Can't remember who was the first but when I watched Cambridge City we had a number of future league referees, perhaps the most notable being Roger Kirkpatrick, John Homewood and Ray Tinkler.  I also remember A Diamond from Harlow and an excellent referee from Colchester whose name escapes me.  There was also and R G Baldwin from, I think, Corby who was on the supplementary list for a season or two

No mention of Lord Elleray….

My first game was 60 years ago last week, Palace v Bournemouth in Div 3 on 23rd April 1962. It cost me 1/9d to get in, the game ended 0-0 and I have no idea who the ref was. One of the earliest refs I do remember was Kevin Howley who 'booked' 10 Mansfield players at the end of a 2nd round FA Cup tie in Nov 1962 for sarcastically applauding him off the field after he awarded Palace a last minute penalty, which was converted by Ron Allen to give the Palace a 2-2 draw. The goalie apparently didn't make it to the tunnel in time to get himself booked. The Mansfield players should not have bothered, they won the replay 7-2. My first game in my adopted home town of Crewe was v Palace in Dec 2000. The game ended 1-1, with Crewe missing a penalty and Palace ending with 10 players, and the ref was one Mike Dean who looked quite promising!