 Nigel, January 2025 marks an incredible refereeing milestone for you. Would you like to share it with us? Yes, I celebrated 50 years of qualifying as a London FA referee on 3rd January 1975. So how did your refereeing career start? Back in the day I was a player for Athletico Neasden in the Maccabi Southern League and on Sunday 27th October 1974 I was a substitute for their 'C' team at Hackney Marshes. The referee was a no show so I was asked to referee the game! I recall that it went well – I even awarded a penalty against my team – and the result was a 2-2 draw. I enjoyed it and the League allowed me to referee a few matches before I took the course and qualified at the beginning of 1975. Rolling on an incredible 50 years to the present day, how many games have you done now? I have always kept a record of my matches. Up to the end of the year, I have refereed 3,246 games and lined in a further 88 games. That averages around 64 games a season – last season it was 60 and the 2022/23 campaign saw me do 70 games. The most I ever refereed in one season was 108 matches! Which leagues have you refereed in? I have refereed in many leagues over the years including the London Banks FA League, Southern Olympian League, Amateur Football Combination (all Saturdays), Hendon & District Sunday League, Greater London Women's League, Maccabi Southern League, Maccabi Masters League (Sundays), London University Sports League (LUSL), South East England Technical Colleges League (SEETECH), University of London League (ULU) and British University Competition Sport (BUCS), and not forgetting the Southern Amateur League (SAL) which is my current league. I have always stayed well clear of youth football, mainly because of the parents! That's an amazing amount of games. What would you say is your stand-out highlight during your career? I refereed a charity seven-a-side game on the Hallowed pitch at Wembley Stadium in 1988. The game was a curtain-raiser to the Rous Cup match between England and Scotland. It was only 15 minutes each way and started around 2.00pm. There must have been 50,000 supporters in the stadium by the time we finished. One of the sponsors played for my club, Temple Fortune FC, and I was asked to referee because of that. I took my father and we had a great day, meeting Kenneth Wolstenholme (the legendary commentator of "they-think-it's-all-over… it-is-now!" fame) amongst others afterwards at the reception. Do you remember who played in that charity game and the result? For 'Old England' as they were called, the great Bobby Moore, Trevor Brooking, Paul Mariner, Mick Mills and goalkeeper Phil Parkes plus a few I cannot remember. For 'Old Scotland', Kenny Dalglish, Rod Stewart, John Wark, Graeme Souness, Danny McGrain, Eddie Gray, Bryan Gunn in goal. Old Scotland won 3-0, Dalglish and Stewart scoring two of them. The ball pinged around and the only foul I gave was against Souness! The game was recorded by ITV as part of their live Rous Cup coverage and shown as short highlights just before the main event. I recall that we missed the only goal of the match, scored early on by England, because I was changing! But what an experience for a grassroots referee just 13 years into his career! What other achievements have you gained during your refereeing career? Well, I have always remained a grassroots referee so never climbed any ladders to achieve more. So I have many cup final appointments both as referee and assistant over the years, and have refereed in the top divisions of most of my leagues. Standouts are the London University Challenge Cup final at Bank of England in 2011, numerous finals for the Southern Amateur League, loads of Maccabi cup finals and refereeing at stadiums including Leyton Orient, Luton Town, QPR, Southampton and quite a few non-league grounds. Why haven't you gone for promotion in all that time? Promotion has never interested me. I have always preferred to referee at the highest level within the leagues I covered. Refereeing has always remained a past-time that I have strived to do to the best of my ability. Being basically a hobby, I never wanted the pressure of being assessed. I have numerous stories of stuff I don't like within refereeing circles – the snobbery, the back-stabbing, the egocentric and demeaning attitudes I've seen against lower-level referees – "I'm-Level-4,-you're-only-a-7?" kind of thing. I have never wanted to be a part of that culture so have stayed away from people I would rather not mix with. To climb the refereeing ladder you need to mix with these guys, go to the seminars and training, wear suits at refereeing events, be seen to be involved – and that's not for me. When I received my 25 Years service award from the London FA, I asked for it to be posted! I have been happy to stay at grassroots level and to stay low profile. Do you have any negative experiences from refereeing? I was once asked to belatedly cover a London FA Intermediate Cup line at Kingstonian FC as a late fill-in and endured a miserable evening of continual abuse. There must have been around 50 spectators and one guy in particular gave me 90 minutes of horrendous stick all through. I hated every minute but stuck at my job without any reaction. In that situation, you feel like turning around and venting back but you can't! That game early in my career was one big reason why I decided not to go for promotion – I did not want to be a part of that. On another occasion I was assaulted by some lout who I had sent off. He cowardly ran behind me, threw one punch to the back of my head and ran off. I abandoned the game and he was subsequently banned sine die. That was around 30 years ago and fortunately was the only time I was assaulted. Of course, I have had my fair share of 'nightmare' games – mass confrontations, multiple sending offs, player-on-player assaults (one resulting in a criminal case at Wood Green Crown Court) and other unpleasant circumstances. But as a referee you have to have the courage to stand firm and deal with what is thrown at you. Fortunately, these incidents are fairly few and far between. With your involvement at Hendon FC, have you had the pleasure of refereeing the Hendon first team? Yes, I have refereed the team several times to help the manager out, all friendlies of course. I did a couple of Hendon v Edgware Town games and one v Northwood in a hastily-arranged friendly one very cold evening (Hendon won 3-2). Naturally Step 3 football is way above grassroots – it is so fast for a start – but I managed due to many years of experience and know-how. In all your games what is your fastest caution/sending off? Yellow card – 3 seconds! I blew for kick-off at the start of a game and an opponent rushed forward and kicked the ball hard at goal before the guy could start the game! Red card – during the game, 3 minutes. A player was tackled hard and punched the opponent in the stomach in retaliation! But technically I had two red cards before the kick-off in one match. Two brothers had a disagreement as they were warming up and started punching each other. Their team were down to nine players as the game kicked-off (they had no subs). You often officiate with two other TFFC fans. Tell us about that. Yes, they are Kerry Higham, who helps me with TFFC admin, and Mike Shorvon, who I have known through the Club since about 2002. Both officiate on a voluntary basis. Although a trainee referee, Kerry is a specialist grassroots assistant referee with around 185 games behind her whilst Mike has been lining for me for years, mainly in university football. We attend mainly SAL games as a team and it works very well; I enjoy working with them and they certainly make my life easier!  Mike, Nigel and Kerry after officiating a charity matrch at SJP in September 2024. As the years have flown by, it is getting harder for you physically? I'd be lying if I said no! Although stamina is not an issue, I have osteoarthritis mainly in my left knee. So, a regime of painkillers, Volterol and thorough warming up is essential to get me through a game. Even then, the first 20 minutes or so of a game can be testing. Once everything kicks in, I have better mobility. But, oh my, the aches and pains at home in between games… all good fun! So how long can you realistically go on for? For as long as I keep enjoying it and my legs keep carrying me on! Refereeing has been a way of life for so long and I would probably miss it. Perhaps not getting up at 7am on a cold Sunday morning, but that's all part of the fun! How would you sum up your long refereeing career? Refereeing has given me huge discipline in life generally. Not staying out all night, not getting smashed at parties, not losing my temper when driving, being tolerant of others, knowing how to man-manage situations thrown at me in life. Don't get me wrong; it has been very difficult. Every match is physically and mentally demanding. But it's been an absolutely fantastic past-time and even at grassroots level has given me so much. Thank you for your time and congrats on your 50 years! Good luck for many more years of refereeing. Thanks – many more years I am not so sure about! I take one season at a time. When the motivation and desire fades, I think I will know when to hang up that whistle!  
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