Re: Referees your best and worst ? : Wed Feb 22, 2012 8:56 pm
BurnleyDave wrote:
Thank you so much for mentioning Ron Gelder as one of the best refs you remember - he was my Grandad!
He sadly passed away a few years back and it was lovely to see a few representatives from the RFL turned up to the funeral. His wife, my nan, is still very much with us and they have a picture up in their house of the famous Cup Final replay at Odsal stadium which he refereed - hard to believe that many people fit into Odsal!!!!
Anyway as far as my favourite referees and least favourite...
Least favourite - Ian Smith: Complete tool and when I did a ref's course back in 2000 he came along for a day and came across as a bighead..
Favourite - Karl Kirkpatrick was the best when he quit but I think the current crop are pretty good. We always slate them when we are at the matches but when we watch it back again on TV, they are correct 9 times out of 10!
He sadly passed away a few years back and it was lovely to see a few representatives from the RFL turned up to the funeral. His wife, my nan, is still very much with us and they have a picture up in their house of the famous Cup Final replay at Odsal stadium which he refereed - hard to believe that many people fit into Odsal!!!!
Anyway as far as my favourite referees and least favourite...
Least favourite - Ian Smith: Complete tool and when I did a ref's course back in 2000 he came along for a day and came across as a bighead..
Favourite - Karl Kirkpatrick was the best when he quit but I think the current crop are pretty good. We always slate them when we are at the matches but when we watch it back again on TV, they are correct 9 times out of 10!
Its a pleasure young Dave,, the thing I remember about your grandad was he always seemed to have a large white collar on his shirt whilst on the field, he was probably the only referee to officiate in both Wigan v Saints derby's in the same season 1954-1955 season, referees where respected more in those days by the players, and rightly so.
Kind regards to your Nan