Ex-ref’s insight into football’s fight club

Jul 26 2009 by Michael Kelly, Sunday Sun

Jeff said he got more grief at lower league level compared to the higher leagues, where each game is under intense TV scrutiny and every incident magnified and endlessly debated.

Even the friendlies are screened now, which has led to the serious repercussions from the Coloccini/Novak incident. But it wasn’t always that way.

“Years ago, if there was some trouble brewing between a couple of players in a friendly, the ref would tell the managers to substitute them,” said Jeff. “But the FA took that power off refs.”

A big surprise is that Jeff, who spent 25 years as a ref, ending his career after officiating at the 2003/04 FA Cup final between Manchester United and Millwall, said professional footballers were, on the whole, well behaved.

“I think that, other than when tempers really get frayed, you have to give some plaudits to the players. They do behave, in the main, responsibly.” He revealed that the worst incident he dealt with was an incident not reported at the time during a Premier League game between Bradford City and Wimbledon as the players stood in the tunnel waiting to take the field.

Jeff said: “One of the Wimbledon players did a ‘Gazza’ on Bradford skipper Stuart McCall and it kicked off from there. I thought, ‘I don’t believe it’. I’m having to start refereeing even before the game started!”

While he revealed who the player was, he asked us not to name him for personal reasons.