Now that we've exhausted ourselves in front of the TV and computer screen, it's probably time to unwind and relax until we start up again in less than a month. So have a go at these 50 light-hearted questions.
All FL / PL referees from 1946. Some have more than one answer. Spellings may be different and some flexibility needed with pronunciation. Drip feed your answers please, with reasons, rather than answering them all in one go to give others a chance, and I will then 'like' or 'dislike' what you've suggested. I'll keep this open for a while. Good luck!
1. Beer ‘n carrot? Should’ve gone to Specsavers!
2. Initially I didn’t really get these three
3. A dock in W Lancs? One from the old days I imagine.
4. You have to be a bit mad to teach in the North West
5. Fishing around on the phone. The name?
6. ‘Bootiful son’
7. Belch, more tea, belch, more tea…….?
8. Must have been at ‘sixes and sevens’ moving from Essex to Hampshire
9. Forever commemorated at Stirling
10. Football captain in Headmaster’s study. Sounds painful
11. Magic in Essex
12. Wonderland!
13. Caroline of Wembley? I’ll sing to that
14. Yorkshire ‘a’ sounding similar to Cheshire ‘e’, or is it the other way around? (2 referees)
15. If I hear that corny E London joke once more, I’m calling a cab
16. Preferred Ron or Ronald to Ronnie in Bentley town?
17. Off in a fit of pique? Must’ve have mispronounced his name again
18. A Scottish church with Irish connections
19. Everybody loves a man with a name of some convenience
20. A Fijian pulling pints in the South Lakes? Er, not quite.
21. ‘I’ for Indiana? Could be but not on this occasion
22. “Give ‘im the money!”
23. One only at Christmas but is it on a Christmas tree?
24. Watch it, this referee needs to play five minutes more
25. Nuts in 18, and that’s the short of it
26. That move looked straightforward, even for a chess rookie like me
27. Tall stories from both sides of the Thames (2 referees leading to one answer)
28. Oh *@#*, I thought I ordered red ones for the extension, not yellow
29. ‘By thy long grey beard and glittering eye….’ (not Mike Dean!)
30. No they’re not, they’re very naughty boys!
31. Musically I’ve reviewed the situation and decided to get myself a wife
32. In a fury again?
33. “Don’t tell him your name….”
34. A star swinging in from the East. But is it going my way or further up?
35. Broseley + Sandbach = Great Yarmouth
36. Feeling a bit uncomfortable down below? U keep taking the tablets I say
37. First sight? Don’t know but they sure got on well after that.
38. Melchior, Caspar or Balthazar, take your pick (2 referees)
39. Tread softly, terriers about in Northumberland
40. Nicola in London. Sounds fishy
41. The key to this Sheffield suburb. That’s all there is to know
42. It’s pointless asking him
43. I say, I say, I say, what do you weigh fish with?
44. Quite a task refereeing this 1950s World Cup Final
45. 1939 to 1945 revisited 26 times, and his voice never wavered throughout
46. Elementary! (3 referees)
47. Look back in anger
48. Last in line but by no means the oldest.
49. The French think it’s all over
50. They think it’s all over, it is now!