Ref, 85, not ready for a send off yet

Match official in his 66th season

- By CHRIS SLATER

David in action during a match

IT was just a year after Manchester United's Busby Babes perished in the Munich Air disaster that David Taylor put on his referee's kit for the first time. Harold McMillan was the Prime Minister and the Cuban Revolution had just taken place.

David was then a fresh-faced 19-year-old with a love for football. A serious knee injury had caused him to quit his own burgeoning amateur career.

But David, from Bury, wanted to stay involved with the game. So at the start of the 1959/1960 season, following a suggestion from a friend, David offered to officiate a game in the old Bury Amateur League.

That began what would become a lifelong passion with David, now aged 85, currently in the middle of his 66th season as a grassroots referee. His family believe that is a world record, and are in the midst of trying to have the achievement recognised.