I went to school in Leeds and played rugby league as a junior, and then went to the grammar school where you could only play rugby union. So I had a taste of both worlds.
I got into refereeing in about '84. No ambitions to go nationally or anything like that, and by '88, I was on the national panel. My opening game as an international referee was USA versus Canada in Long Beach. Well, for a lad from Leeds, it was unbelievable. From there, refereed at top level for about 12 years. I went to the '99 World Cup, got to travel around the world. Even though I'm retired, I'm still working, assessing younger referees who are on the way up, and also citing for Europe.
I came here, and my aim at the end of it was to become a PE teacher. That course was so good, when I went out into teaching in 1970, we could actually teach any sport they
had on the curriculum from the age 11 up to 18. So in other words, you had a really good grasp of the basics, and then really at the top end, developing really good teams and
expertise and skills. They taught you not only how to teach, but how to coach as well. It was all about excellence. Great place.
I was amazed when I got the phone call.
It was Pete Mack who rang me up and just said, "Look, you've been nominated to be
inducted." So I looked into it online.
Fantastic top people with the sport, and amazed at the number of
people who had come here, and you just don't realise.
There's some sporting greats in there.
So the memorabilia I brought today is two shirts, one World
Cup shirt from '99 when I refereed three games of the World Cup, and the
second shirt, in 2007, I went to the World Cup as a referee
advisor. It's one of the first times, and we all got presented these shirts signed
by the whole squad.
I can't speak highly enough of Carnegie.
It's a fantastic centre of sport, and how it's developed is
unbelievable.
1970
2026
