Was he still running the middle? - “Certainly I am,” says Mick, from Broompark, near Durham - “I was out at New Brancepeth last Sunday and by hell, I’ve never been so cold in all my life! They said the pitch was fit, so we had to be, but I’m not sure that any of us was quite right in the head.”

A referee for 45 years – less the six months he was long since suspended by Durham FA for being seven minutes late for a disciplinary hearing – the retired deputy headmaster still handles more than 100 games a season. He had managed four the weekend previously and is chairman of the Swindurn Maddison Durham Sunday League.

Last week, however, he arrived at Aykley Heads for a Sunderland police fixture only to find that the game had been moved to South Hetton.

The match passed uneventfully,unlike the last time he’d faced Sunderland constabulary when things were a little different. “One of them called me old, which was bad enough, but it was the words which followed it which got him sent off,”says Mick.“It was my fourth red card in two weeks.

Before that, I’d hardly had any in two years.”Still a Wearside League assistant referee, he’s was awarded an Over 40s League cup final last  season.“The word got around that it was going to be my last match, but they couldn’t be more wrong.“I may not make 86, but I hope I’ve got a good few years left in me yet!”

 
Mick Henderson,still a bit bairn of 71

Tags: Chairman