RateTheRef

Sad news. When I was growing up I took little interest in referees and only knew a handful by name - the World Cup referees Pat Partridge and Clive Thomas; Messrs Controversial Turvey and McNally; and lastly the oddly-named trio of Lester Shapter, Gilbert Napthine and Trelford Mills. When I started to take more interest in referees he was one of the mainstays and always a very dependable official, also distinctive for his full beard as well for his name. He made the List at a young age and maybe if circumstances had been a little different he might have achieved greater refereeing honours.

When I was a kid, I always thought he was called "referee Tunbridge Wells of Barnsley"!

Sorry to hear of the passing of another fine ref.

I recall that the Kop once sang 'Happy Birthday' to Trelford as he came on to the field. 11 visits to Anfield and not one home loss, so Trelford must have been a favourite of the Kop.

Another incident I recall was in a game which was screened live on BBC or ITV on a Sunday afternoon. I think it was at Coventry and in the 2nd half, with the score still 0-0, a Coventry defender saved a certain goal with his arm. The then mandatory red card came out and, to everyone's astonishment, the player protested loudly (not it had to be said supported by his team mates). Trelford then drew himself up to his full imposing height, whereupon the offending player scuttled off to the dressing room. The penalty was missed.

The Newcastle v Brighton FA Cup replay in Jan 1983 is shown on YouTube. Two Newcastle goals disallowed. The first was for a contentious handball and would have been cleared up by VAR nowadays, the second was for a very soft push, and would almost certainly not have been disallowed now.   

Beards - Trelford was certainly one of the only bearded refs on the list, but I recall seeing George Flint (1972 to 1982) with a full beard at Selhurst Park, and this is confirmed in mutn3's wonderful book on Old Nottinghamshire Referees.

RIP Trelford.

I don't think I ever saw Roger Dilkes in action, but am fairly certain that he was another member of the very select group of bearded referees.

He was and a very good ref too, vastly underrated. To the list of Mills, Dilkes and Flint we can add Tom Reynolds who also sported a beard, though I seem to recall it was shaved off after a time.

I don't think I ever saw Roger Dilkes in action, but am fairly certain that he was another member of the very select group of bearded referees.

Going a bit more modern - Rob Harris of Oxfordshire (iirc) was also bearded at one stage of his career