Re: Referees Over The Years : Tue May 12, 2020 6:47 pm
Cruncher wrote:
As for John Holdsworth. In the days when refs weren't allowed to control games in which their home town team was playing, I always loved the way Wigan v Leeds was regularly reffed by John Holdsworth 'from Kippax' (which is in Leeds).
A few years ago I sat behind Holdsworth at one of our academy games at Orrell on a Saturday afternoon. The academy game was against Leeds and he was the referee assessor for the game. At half time he was quite happy to chat. Leeds had lost to Catalan on the Friday night on Sky. It was a famous victory for Catalan and a real blow to Leeds. When I brought up the subject of the game he said he was made up with the Leeds defeat and had loved the game. He said that everyone states that he is from Kippax but he is actually from Bramley. We all know Bramley is a district of Leeds and Holdsworth said that everyone from Bramley hates Leeds and he was no different. It was quite funny as I said he had better speak a bit quieter as the unplaying members of the Leeds academy squad were sat about two rows behind us and could possibly overhear his comments, but he didn't seem overly concerned. It was an amusing and enjoyable conversation.