The small village of Compton up on the Berkshire Downs received national exposure this summer as the home of Theo Walcott. At the age of 17, Walcott was catapulted from the obscurity of Arsenal reserves into the limelight, when selected by Sven Goran Eriksson for the England World Cup squad, despite never having played a Premiership game.
For me however, Compton holds a long-abiding football memory that's a long way down the scale from the World Cup.
Many years ago I was appointed to referee Compton's football team in the local Reading league. It was an early kick-off, because for some reason Compton's reserve side were also due to play at home and the village had only one football pitch. This actually suited me quite well as the next day, Sunday, was my wedding anniversary and I hadn't yet bought an anniversary card. It meant that I would have plenty of time to go down to Newbury after the game and find a card shop.
However when I arrived I was greeted with the news that the referee appointed to the reserve game had cried off. Could I, said the club secretary, referee the reserve game as well. This would, of course, have meant a late finish with the likelihood of all the shops being closed by the time I made my way to Newbury. I explained my predicament to the club secretary 'Don't worry about that,' the secretary said, 'our club linesman's wife works in the village paper shop and they sell all sorts of greeting cards.'
So at half time of the first team match, having despatched his son to the village shop, the Compton linesman spread out a collection of anniversary cards around the centre circle, for me to make my selection. I therefore had no choice but to carry on and referee the reserve game once the first team match had finished.
This wasn't the first time I had found club linesmen - or club assistant referees as we must call them now - to be helpful. For those who may not be aware, very few local games have the good fortune to have qualified, neutral referees appointed to the line as well as the middle, so competition rules dictate that clubs must provide someone to run the line. Mainly their duties are to flag for the ball out of play and for offside.
As might be expected, there is a wide variation in the talent and indeed the commitment of those who are
inveigled into taking the flag. It is one of the most difficult jobs in the game. They are after all, supporters of their club and yet at times they may have to give indications to the referee to make decisions against their own team.
Years ago, when I was secretary of a local club as well as a referee, our players complained to me that 'our linesman is too fair'. Not a sentiment of course, that I could ascribe to. Occasionally you find one who is biased but, perhaps worse, many are
uninterested. Very often today the job is given to a substitute who is disgruntled before he starts as he would much rather have been picked to play.
However over the years I have had some very good and fair officials from clubs running the line for me and I am always most grateful. Reading Referees Association makes an award each year, and has done so since 1933, to the top three local club assistants marked by their referees. If you are a member of a club that has someone who regularly runs the line for you and does a good job of it, may I suggest that you too show your appreciation, particularly at the end of the season. I'm sure the village shop at Compton will have a good selection of 'thank you' cards.
Dick Sawdon Smith
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© R Sawdon Smith 2006