It Started With a Kick Episode 75 : Mark Halsey
Mark Halsey was a top flight referee for over twenty years but started as a goalkeeper for semi-pro clubs such as Cambridge City and Hertford Town before taking up refereeing in 1989 and was Premier League ref from 1999 to his retirement in 2013. Mark grew up in a QPR-supporting family and his first match was at Loftus Road against Swindon Town when likes of Ron Springett and Rodney Marsh were playing. he was on Tottenham’ books as a schoolboy but ‘other things’ got in the way.
Mark remembers very clearly the first EFL match in which he took charge at the Goldstone Ground when they were tossing the coin, a naked man appeared and ‘larruped the ball out of sight’. Amongst other stories he recalls having to avoid a confrontation with an incandescent Neil Warnock who was in charge of Leeds at Millwall. Amongst the many matches in which he was the man in the middle, probably the most well-known for its extraordinary finale is the 1999 2nd Division Play-Offs Final between Gillingham and Manchester City. Gillingham fans have still not forgiven him.
Part 1 – https://bit.ly/4n7IKax
Part 2 – https://bit.ly/3It9mDF
The Football Mine 