During matches the referee has many decisions to make and, as you are all aware, he cannot please everyone all the time.

Two amusing incidents are recalled which date back to the 1950's and 1960's and involve two former members of the Darlington Referees' Society, Tom Peden and Jim Cornforth, both sadly, no longer with us today.

In the first incident, a local man was well known for voicing his opinions at referees during games at one particular ground. Referees knew they would always incur his wrath even before the game had started. This day, true to form, one voice could be heard above all others criticising the referee whenever the opportunity arose. About 15 minutes into the game the referee, Tom Peden, decided that he had had enough of this constant criticism. As the game continued the referee stood next to this man on the sideline and continued to referee the game for the next ten minutes or so standing in the same spot, next to the heckler.

The man was taken aback by this action from the referee and was surprisingly lost for words. Curiosity got the better of him in the end and when play stopped, he asked Tom what he was doing. Tom turned to him and said that every time he came to this ground he was concerned that most of his decisions were wrong and to avoid any further criticism he decided that, as this man obviously had the best view in the ground and could see every incident quite clearly he, as the referee, had a duty to take up the same position to make sure that he always made the correct decision.

The heckler laughed and shook hands with Tom and said 'point taken' and was fairly quiet for the rest of the game and on the future occasions when Tom refereed at this ground.

The second incident is summed up in the cartoon below, which appeared in the old Northern Despatch in 1950 and was the treasured possession of my late uncle, Jim Cornforth, from his refereeing days. During a game he had to speak to a player and threatened to send him off which resulted in the player telling him he could do no such thing as he owned the field and if he was to be sent off their would be no game.

Both incidents were always recalled with respected amusement from a bygone age.

As usual, I can be contacted with your refereeing stories by logging on to www.darlingtonreferees.freeserve.co.uk.