• 11 months ago
Britain's oldest football referee is still regularly officiating games at the grand old age of 90.

Sprightly Frank Foster says he will never blow full-time on his favourite hobby that has seen him take charge of more than 5,000 games in 43 years.

He started refereeing in November 1980 and still officiates men's, women's and children's games around three times a week for the Sheffield and Hallamshire FA.

But the great-granddad-of-four says he's determined to be dishing out red and yellow cards 'forever'.
Transcript
00:00 [Background noise]
00:08 My name is Frank Foster. I'm 89 years of age.
00:13 When I was in the RAF in 1951, I used to play for Cromwell,
00:20 and then I used to come on Saturday afternoon and play for Bamford.
00:26 But fortunately, a few months later, I suffered a bad left leg knee ligament problem,
00:36 and that stopped me footballing.
00:38 I had to go to an osteopath to get my knee better.
00:45 I thought, "Right, I still love football, so I'm going to go for training and enter for being a referee."
00:54 I'm a qualified coach, and I've refereed girls, boys, men and ladies,
01:01 and I still wanted to do that. I don't want to finish.
01:05 [Background noise]
01:13 Obviously, before a game starts, you need to do a warm-up.
01:20 Stretchers, little sprints, just to keep that muscle warm,
01:27 so that when you do start a game proper, you're not going to pull anything.
01:33 [Background noise]
01:39 It's the love of football. You're out in the fresh air.
01:43 It's not only in the sunshine. Sometimes it's wind, and sometimes it's rain,
01:49 but I just love it. Age is just a number. Don't think it is an age.
01:55 Do what you can while you're alive, and this is what I want to do.
01:59 I want to carry on and carry on.
02:02 When I find out I can't keep up with the players, I have to go back to coaching.

Recommended