RateTheRef

A version of this article was printed in the Prescot Cables programmes for the match against Radcliffe on January 26th, 2019.
I am grateful to the St. Helens Referees Society for some additional information which is included in this updated version.

Back in the black and white days of football, before the advent of the Premier League and wall to wall media coverage, the name of the match referee was usually listed in newspaper reports and match programmes along with his occupation and home town. Most of them seemed to come, not from our big cities, but from small towns and villages which, before Google maps, many people would struggle to locate. Many a small boy (or girl) growing up learned their geographical knowledge through football, knowing that Plymouth and Carlisle were a long way apart but Stoke City and Port Vale was a local derby, Tranmere Rovers and Everton were near Liverpool and that Kevin Howley came from Billingham, Maurice Fussey (surely one of the best ever names for a referee?) from Retford or Norman Burtenshaw was from Great Yarmouth.

During the 1950s and 60s, one referee who promoted the name of Prescot in supporters minds up and down the country, was John “Jack” Mitchell, born in Prescot in 1920. He was on the Football League referees list for thirteen years from 1955 to 1967, and was appointed to the FIFA list in 1959. In 1959, the Liverpool Echo noted that “Mr. Mitchell usually fills his occasional Saturday free from League commitment by taking a Prescot or St. Helens junior match”. In common with a number of Football League officials at the time, he also refereed on many occasions in Northern Ireland and Eire.

Despite being a top class referee for more than a dozen years, I have been unable to find much documentation of his career. Mitchell’s playing days for Haydock in the Liverpool County Combination were cut short by injury, after which he took up refereeing.

In a Liverpool Echo feature shortly after he retired in 1967 Mitchell explained,

“I started refereeing when I had my jaw broken playing for a Haydock team against U.G.B. I was never quite fast enough to make a first class player. I’ve never regretted becoming a referee. My only injury when handling a match was two broken ribs after a collision with a player at Halifax. I didn’t know until mid-day on Sunday that the damage was so serious. I’m one of the few referees who’s never been k.o.’d by the ball or a player. One of the happiest games I took was the first floodlit match at Goodison Park in October 1957 between Everton and Liverpool [before a crowd of more than 58,000 where he gained considerable praise for his performance]. There are no crowds quite so amusing as those found at Anfield or Goodison Park. Naturally, the home crowd is always a bit rough on any referee who gives a doubtful decision against one of their players, but in general, I’ve had no trouble at all with spectators.”

Mitchell ref’d the second leg of the last League Cup final to be played over two legs, in 1966, when West Bromwich Albion overturned a 2 – 1 deficit at The Hawthorns, to defeat West Ham United 5 – 3 on aggregate.

He recalled another match he officiated in Birmingham, “I was nearly late on one occasion when the engine of the train on which I was travelling broke down at Runcorn. I arrived in Birmingham twenty minutes before kick off, having changed into my gear in the toilet. If I’d been too late to take the match I would’ve gone into the League’s black books and there would’ve been a fine, amounting to the sum of my fee – 10 guineas and first class expenses.”

The Football League had a rule that all match officials had to retire on reaching their 47th birthday – for many when they were at the peak of their careers. Mitchell, himself, was clearly unhappy at being forced to retire.

“Being due for my forty seventh birthday in August 1967, I anticipated I would be hearing from the League. But I don’t mind telling you I hoped that letter would not come. If my birthday had come a few weeks later I should have had one more season. “I think 47 is probably too early to retire a referee compulsorily, though there may be some referees who want retirement at that age."

“People seem to think the League pension retired referees. There isn’t any such scheme. We do get a letter of thanks from the League and mine is going to be one of my most prized souvenirs. The great thing about refereeing is that you make so many friends. Every Christmas I have sheaves of cards from fellow referees or linesmen or club officials who have become friends of mine."

“I’ve enjoyed every minute of my time with the League. I’ve only had to send four players and I’ve been lucky in that I’ve never had one of those scenes of which the game gets too many nowadays. I shan’t stop refereeing, there will be matches in the St. Helens area, but obviously life won’t be the same.

Appointment to the F.A. Cup Final is considered to the highest honour in the domestic game for any referee. Mitchell was not lucky enough to be selected for that. However, one may speculate that the success of Liverpool reaching the final in 1965, followed by Everton, the following year, may have mitigated against Mitchell being chosen in his final years as a top class referee.

Finally, in the Echo feature, Mitchell had some interesting observations about the future of the game;

“I feel that a panel of retired referees, set to attend league games, would produce fairer marking for their successors than the existing system of clubs marking referees. They cannot be other than rather biased and influenced by the fate of their team."

“Is refereeing different now from when I started? I’m afraid the answer must be ‘yes’. Football’s become very commercialised. There’s too much money at stake. It isn’t nearly so pleasant as it used to be.”

I wonder what he would think of the state of the top levels of football, today?!

According to William Roberts of the St. Helens Referees Society, Jack Mitchell worked in the Prescot Services Dept. of BICC for many years and retired from there in the late nineteen seventies. After hanging up his whistle, Jack Mitchell served for a spell as a Director of Prescot Cables Football Club in the late 1960s.

Leicester Mercury 12th November 2012

Referee Roger Kirkpatrick dies, aged 81

A "larger than life" character who refereed some of the biggest names in British football in the 1960s and 70s has died, aged 81.

Roger Kirkpatrick was known by players as Mr. Pickwick, after the Charles Dickens character, because of his stout appearance and bushy sideburns.

He refereed top class football from 1966 to 1979, officiating at games featuring players such as Manchester United stars Denis Law and George Best.

Law asked him to officiate at his testimonial against Dutch club Ajax.

Roger once sent off fiery Manchester City forward Mike Summerbee – and said the striker sought him out in the referee's room after the match to apologise.

Kirkpatrick, of Narborough Road South, Leicester, featured in the 1978-79 season opening titles for B.B.C. Match of the Day programme and it was said he could run backwards faster than he could forwards.

His son Mark said: "If there is such a thing, Dad was a well liked referee. I'm not saying he got all his decisions right, but the big thing was he was respected by the players. He didn't swear. as he used to say 'if I swear, how can I pull up the players for swearing?" "Dad was a showman, he was aware of his nickname. He could have cut off his sideburns, but he chose to keep them. Me and my brother got to go to all the games. I remember once asking Alan Ball if he was a footballer and sitting two seats away from George Best. We always had footballers around and Brian Clough and Peter Taylor were big friends of the family. He was paid 21 guineas a game, plus expenses every weekend. You had to do it for the love of the sport. He enjoyed it and made the most of it."

Mr Kirkpatrick became a referee at 17 before joining the Fleet Air Arm where he continued refereeing for the Royal Navy. He also played cricket and rugby for the service. He met his wife Elizabeth, a Wren, and the couple celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary last year.

Mark said: "He was known as something of a disciplinarian. He wouldn't take back chat – he would come down on you like a ton of bricks. He had an air of authority and a big, booming voice. I think he had something missing in the refereeing world today. I don't think there is the same respect from the players these days."

Leicester City ambassador Alan Birchenall has fond memories of Kirkpatrick. "I was playing for Chelsea and the pitch was a bit of a quagmire. Whenever Roger had made a decision, he ran off backwards at 100m.p.h. I "accidentally" put out my right foot and he fell over. He called me over and asked me if I had done it on purpose. I said "no" and he told me if he'd thought I had I would have been off. The story always brought a smile to his face. He was a lovely bloke and a top referee."

Mr Kirkpatrick was also a successful businessman, as a director of companies making knitwear and in the motor trade. In later years, he achieved considerable success in another sport, serving as Leicester Bowls Club president, Leicestershire county president and Midlands Counties president.

He and his wife played bowls for England and he was an England Bowling Association assessor for 10 years.

He died at home last week, following a long illness.

As well as his wife and son Mark, he also leaves another son, Paul, and grandchildren Leon, Alex, Holly and Rosie.

York Press, 27th September 2002

Death of Wembley cup final referee
   
Vincent James, a football league referee for 14 years and a well known figure in the York branch of the Club and Institute Union, has died suddenly in York District Hospital following a heart attack. He was 75.

James, who was born in York and was a pupil at Manor Higher Grade School for Boys, twice officiated at Wembley where he became the first referee to caution a player in a final.

He was linesman for the F.A. Cup final between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur in 1967 and refereed the Manchester City v West Bromwich Albion League Cup final in 1970.

This appointment came as a shock to him. "I had refereed the semi-final between West Bromwich Albion and Carlisle United and you are only usually given a final in your last year on the list. As I have four and a half seasons to go, you can imagine it was a big surprise to me," he said in February 1970. When you start refereeing on Knavesmire, getting to Wembley is what you always dream about, but you never think it will happen. I have been linesman for a Scotland v Wales match at Hampden Park and also for an F.A. Cup semi-final between Manchester United and Southampton, but this is easily the highlight of my career," he told the Evening Press in May 1967 after hearing of his F.A. Cup final appointment.

James also had the remarkable distinction of refereeing six FA Cup ties in the 1969-70 season. He was in charge of South Shields v Oldham in the second round, then Liverpool v Coventry and Tottenham Hotspur v Crystal Palace. All three ties were drawn and he also refereed the replays.

He took up refereeing in 1945 after playing in goal for Fulford United Reserves and gradually worked his way up after starting in the York and District League. After completing nine seasons on the Football League list, the League decided to grade referees in 1969 and James was placed in the top list, having charge of many First (now Premier) Division matches.

When he finished his long career as an official he became an assessor. Peter Rhodes, who also refereed in the Football League for many years, said today: "Vince was essentially a referee's referee and when his long career came to an end he was a natural choice to be an assessor. Many up and coming officials have benefited from his advice. I have travelled thousands of miles with him for matches and meetings and only a fortnight ago I was with him at Goodison Park to watch Everton play Middlesbrough."

James was employed by Yorkshire Clubs Brewery Ltd. at Huntington for 45 years, all his working life, and was presented with the gold award by the York branch of the Club and Institute Union in 1977 for 21 years service as branch secretary. James, who suffered from Parkinson's Disease, leaves a wife, Anne, and two sons, Vincent and Barry.

Northern Echo, 1st February 2002

(Terry Farley)

Happy whistler for 50 years
   
Maurice Fussey was due to referee Newcastle v Liverpool on 21st August 1971 when, in the act of removing his bag from the luggage rack at Newcastle Central station, he damaged two vertebrae in his neck.

Terry Farley, the 38 year old senior linesman, was told on arrival at. St James' Park that he would be in charge.

Bill Shankly awaited in the visitors' dressing room. There'd been a well publicised edict to referees about clamping down on foul play.

"How do you intend to interpret it, Mr. Farley?" growled Shankly, "By the letter of the law, Mr. Shankly," said Terry.

The referee within 15 minutes of kick off had decided that the letter of the law applied to Larry Lloyd, Liverpool's England centre half.

The papers were aghast - it was Lloyd's third booking within twelve months.

The Northern Echo report considered nonetheless that it was "a very competent display of refereeing in the new style" Shankly was rather more circumspect. "Apart from that booking the referee was fairly reasonable," conceded the Great Man.

Lloyd appealed. Fussey, watching from the stand, said he'd be prepared to speak up for the player. The Daily Express called it soccer history and bluntly headlined it Referee v Referee, stating Lloyd was "choked" by the decision.

Terry still keeps the cuttings. "I admit it was a fairly innocuous tackle, but I was doing what we'd been told to do. I wouldn't care but it was a marvellous football match, the rest of the game was no bother. There were 40,000 in, two penalties, two disallowed goals and Malcolm Macdonald scored a hat-trick before being carried off after colliding with Ray Clemence."

He was on the Football League "supplementary" list in those days and usually allowed eight lower division games each season but he was removed the following May. "I really thought my chance had gone as you very rarely got a second bite."

Twelve months later, however, he was returned to the supplementary list. In 1975, after running the line in the Charity Shield at Wembley, he became a Football League referee. He lined for Jack Taylor in a Fairs Cup tie between Barcelona and Juventus, for George Courtney in Portugal and twice in Scottish internationals at Hampden Park - once joined by Pat Partridge and Tom Smith, all three match officials from County Durham.

Now Terry Farley, one of the genuinely nice men of football, is marking 50 years involvement with refereeing. His son Gary, 43, has belatedly whetted his whistle, too, progressing swiftly through the levels, but too late to reach the top. "There's a rumour going around that he's better than I was," says his dad. If I found out who started it, there'll be solicitor's letters flying about."

He was born and raised in Ferryhill Station, played for West Cornforth Juniors, took to refereeing at 18 after deciding that he'd never be good enough to play senior football. On 4th January 1952 he presented himself to Durham F.A. headquarters, answered some questions based on a Subbuteo type pitch and 22 miniature men, and immediately took out his cards.

For three years he was restricted to Durham junior leagues ("a tremendous standard") finally becoming a Northern League referee and North Regional League linesman, but - though famously fit - with little hope of further advancement.

"In those days N.E. didn't mean North East to a referee up here, it meant non existent. Then they introduced feeder leagues in 1965 and we were all given a chance on the Football League line."

Familiarly white haired, he has been secretary of the Bishop Auckland Referees' Society for almost 40 years, for 18 years the refs' rep on Durham F.A., and is still an assessor in the Northern and Unibond leagues - a man dedicated to the craft and to ensuring that grass roots football doesn't wither for want of referees.

"Our problem in County Durham and elsewhere isn't recruiting them, it's retaining them. We've had about 80 qualify in the last two months and we'll be lucky to keep 20. Clubs complain if they don't get a referee but it's up to them to make it more enjoyable for him, to give a new referee the chance to establish himself. A referee has to be dedicated, enthusiastic and to have a skin like a rhinoceros but you can't expect him to enjoy it if he's getting abused both on and off the field."

He himself enjoyed almost all his career until retiring from active refereeing in 1982, though - inevitably - there were days memorable for the wrong reasons. "I remember a match between Bishop Auckland and Tow Law when there were punches thrown and all sorts. It was so bad that at the end a policeman came on the field and said he thought it better if I went with him. As we were going off, a little lad of 10 or 11 ran up and offered me a pair of glasses. It was one of the days every referee gets where you go home, throw your gear into the kitchen and say you're packing in. Fortunately, most of us have changed our minds by the following Saturday."

He worked on the railways - "I used to go down to Ferryhill station to watch the Flying Scotsman, joined Aycliffe Development Corporation finance department in 1960, still lives in Newton Aycliffe, where he owns a driving school and is also a magistrate.

Though few mementos of his middle man days are visible round the house, there's a photograph on the wall of Spurs v Leeds United - Ardiles to the right of him, Lorimer to the left - which arrived with a tongue in cheek note from the Football League. "Glad to see you're keeping up with play for once," it said.

Terry still keeps up with play, admits he'd love to play it again. "If you're young enough and you have the ability, there's no reason you can't go right to the top, where nowadays it's both glamorous and lucrative."

His 50 years good and faithful service will be acknowledged at a dinner later this year. "If they let me," he says, "I'd start refereeing again tomorrow."

Note that Upton has him as a supplementary for two seasons 70-1 & 71-2 before missing TWO seasons, and returning as a supplementary for 74-5 then being on the full list for six seasons 75-6 to 80-1 before reaching the age of 47 and retirement

Arthur Ellis

Guardian, Tuesday 8th June 1999, Ivan Ponting
 
Bon Paisley was one of sport's quiet men, yet an incident involving one of his rare rages offers telling illustration of how Arthur Ellis elevated soccer refereeing into an art form.

The man who would go on to become the most successful manager in English football with Liverpool was playing one of his last matches for the Anfield club when he was clattered by a Middlesbrough opponent. Paisley rounded on his tormentor, threatening darkly to part his hair if it happened again, and it is fair to speculate that violence was contemplated. Ellis, scenting trouble and anxious to defuse it, reacted instantly by whipping a comb from his pocket and offering it to the aggrieved north-easterner with the words: "There you are Bob, do it now if you like."

Everyone laughed, a potential crisis was averted and the game continued peacefully. It was brilliant refereeing and it epitomised Arthur Ellis, the stern but cheerful Yorkshireman who, in his 1950s prime, was the world's most famous whistle blower.

He had turned to officiating after realising as a youngster that he would not make the top grade as a player and by 22 he was a Yorkshire League referee. Displaying characteristic authority and a natural flair for interpreting the game's finer points, he progressed rapidly and was a Football League linesman within two years.

After moving into the middle, Ellis was soon noticed for his fairness and his man management skills, and was rewarded with his first high profile task in 1948 when he took charge of an F.A. Cup semi-final between Tottenham Hotspur and Blackpool.

Thereafter the credits piled up in quick succession. In 1950 he refereed West Germany's first international, against Switzerland in Stuttgart, and that same year took part in the World Cup finals in Brazil. He wielded the whistle in several games and then ran the line in what was effectively the final, the competition being run on a league basis, between Uruguay and Brazil. Then came the 1952 F.A. Cup final, in which Newcastle United defeated Arsenal, for which he was offered the choice of a medal or a £10 fee. Predictably for a fellow who gloried in football's tradition, he opted for the gong.

But it was for his composed handling of one of the most ill tempered of all international contests that Ellis won deathless renown. That was the 1954 World Cup quarter-final clash between Brazil and Hungary, the so called "Battle of Berne", in which he dismissed Brazil's Nilton Santos and Joseph Bozsik, a Hungarian M.P., for fighting. Later he issued another Magyar with his marching orders and a Brazilian was struck on the head by a bottle thrown from the Hungarian bench, allegedly by the great Ferenc Puskas.

Recently Ellis recalled: "I thought it was going to be the greatest game I'd ever seen. I was on top of the world at the prospect. But it turned out to be a disgrace. In today's climate so many players would have been sent off that the game would have been abandoned. My only thought was that I was determined to finish it."

So he did, and it was a major achievement which ensured that Ellis would preside over a succession of showpiece occasions. Thus he officiated at the first European Cup final in which Real Madrid beat Reims in 1956, and the first European Nations final when the Soviet Union overcame Yugoslavia four years later in Paris.

Compulsory retirement from refereeing followed at the age of 47 but Ellis, who had served in three World Cups and taken charge of more than 40 internationals, did not disappear from the limelight.

Indeed, the celebrity of the former traveller for a Yorkshire brewery increased immensely as he enforced the rules in B.B.C. Television's It's a Knockout for 18 years, effectively playing straight man to the ebullient Stewart Hall and Eddy Waring.

In addition, for many years he chaired the Pools Panel, which pronounces on matches postponed due to bad weather. Roger Hunt, who succeeded him in that role, spoke of Ellis as a zestful optimist who was wonderful to work with. "As a referee he always had a smile on his face, but there was never any point in arguing with Arthur. He was strong and he had the total respect of the players."

A revealing token of that regard came at the end of the 1952 F.A. Cup final, when he was invited to the post match celebrations of both Newcastle and Arsenal. Arthur Ellis resolved his dilemma with typical decision: "I didn't want to show any favouritism, so I went to both," he grinned.

Arthur Ellis, football referee and television presenter: born Halifax, Yorkshire 8th July 1914; married (two sons); died 23r May 1999.

There were two Arthur Jones post war

Arthur (no other initials) Jones of Rainhill, St. Helen's 1953-55 presumably born about 1920 (and that is the one I am after)

and

Arthur Wynne S. Jones of Liverpool, then Ormskirk 1963-77 who was born in 1930 and "survived" to the age limit of 47

Ronald "Ronnie" Jones of 20 Llwyn Estate, Deganwy, Conw(a)y, North Wales was killed, aged 37, along with three others, at Marlbrook, 10 miles North of Hereford, after refereeing Hereford United v Swindon Town on Wednesday 24th September 1975.

He was in his first "full" season on the league list having been a supplementary for two seasons.

He was due to officiate at Akrams (sic) v Nicosia (sic) on Sunday 28th September 1975.

Iorwerth Price "Iori" Jones of Treharris, Glamorgan, South Wales was 12 years older and had retired from the F.L. list the previous season