Refereeing at 80: Peter Lewis looks back on 60 years with the whistle
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00:00Well, I mean, we go back to 1963, 64, when I started refereeing, so, yeah, it has its moments, but I always say the first, if you can tackle the first 15 years of it, well, you're OK.
00:25If you're thick-skinned enough to be able to take the stick, it becomes like water off a dog's back when you've reached over 15 years of refereeing now, yeah.
00:37Absolutely. And have you had any memorable moments over them years?
00:42Well, yeah, I have. One always sticks to mind that in 19-, when was it, 60-, I got my first cup final, and it was a Woods Cup final at Olkyn Stadium, and it ended 0-1 or something.
01:08It was Colby and Malou, and the replay was down at Castle Town, and there must have been 600 people there, being like an Uncle Darby, Malou and Colby.
01:24And Malou scored, but they all maintained that the ball went through to side nothing. And I wasn't sure, I was only in my third year of refereeing in that stage, so I went for the linesman, and they'd said,
01:49well, the ball's in the back of the net, I don't know, I think my angle looks like it went in generally, but with that, Colby all sat down in protest, and I thought, how the hell am I going to get out of this?
02:06So, anyway, I thought, alright, I gave the goal, after about five minutes, I gave the goal, and I said to the Colby guys who were still, some of them still sat on their backsides, I said, listen, I'm going to blow the whistle to restart the game,
02:28now, if you don't make an effort to get up and restart the game, well, I'm going to end up cautioning quite a few of you guys. With that, they all got up and we got started, and actually the game finished 3-0 to Malou, but it was always a big talking point as to did the ball go through the side netting or did it not?
02:55And I wouldn't go and check the side netting of the goal, because they said there was a hole in it, but in them days, there was a load of Malou guys right on the line by the post, so it was one of them, I always remember that.
03:21But there's been other ones, but yeah, that's the one that sticks in my mind, but that's gone back some years now.
03:34I can see why that sticks in your mind, that's obviously a controversial one.
03:39Well, it was, it was. I can remember coming up before the FA, and in them days, the president of the FA was Eric Fletcher, and he got up and he said, because there were comments about how he allowed it or why did he do this or why did he do that,
04:01and Eric Fletcher got up and hammered his hammer on the desk and he said, gentlemen, we will have no further comment on this, the referee's decision is final, and the game finished 3-0, alright, there's controversy on the first goal, but we'll have no further comment, any of the business.
04:26And I thought, well, that's the way to do it. But yeah, there's always been a few others, but no, it's gotten easier now, it's really quite, how can I put it, I think without blowing it on trumpet, I think a lot of it is experience, you can't, there's no substitute for experience,
04:55and I think over the years, although the game has changed so much, the rules of the game have turned upside down to when I first started.
05:07That leads on to my next question actually, what are some of the biggest changes you've seen in the Manx football over the years?
05:15Oh, well, the biggest changes in the rules of the game, you mean, or do you mean Manx refereeing in general, or football in general in the island?
05:28Football in general in the island mainly, yeah.
05:32Well, there's not the characters in the game now, the way society is today, I just don't see players reacting like they did many, many, many years ago.
05:54They used to question the decision of the referee, but it was, how can I put it, it was always done in a manner that after the game, everybody went for a pint and everybody was quite happy.
06:15Today, there are players that want to make an issue of it after the game, and the trouble in the Isle of Man is, and it's things you've got to put up with,
06:35is that it's such an insular place that everybody knows everybody else, they just don't know them as a referee, they know them as what they work at, socialise and everything else,
06:49and it can have, you know, it can be a bit of a, how can I put it, oh, what's the word, I can't think of the word now, I don't know what it is.
07:08Familiarity breeds contempt. Sometimes that is, you know, you've got to remember that for that 90 minutes, I might not be the so-called character, I am off the field for that 90 minutes,
07:28I've got to be seen to be giving judgements on decisions, and I explain to the players, I say, look, it's all about my angle, refereeing is all about angles and opinions,
07:45and there's only one opinion that counts, I'm afraid, everybody is seeing this wonderful game, this passionate game of football from different angles, but it's only my angle, and if I'm lucky to have assistance, their angle,
08:03but, you know, that's the way it is, and I said to them on Saturday, a few offsides, I said, I'm getting offsides from my position, if you're going to tell me I should be with play, well, you know, I'm not a Usain Bolt, certainly at my age,
08:29but, you know, it's all about guessing, and I tried to say, players, look, if the ball, play to the whistle, if the whistle doesn't blow, you play on, if the ball is two yards out of play, it might be being very, very dishonest,
08:53not to say, ah, well, it was out, or it's only a yard out, or it's only a few inches out, and I don't blow the whistle, you crack on, but at the same time, if I blow the whistle, and the ball is clearly in play, you still have to accept that decision, so, yeah, refereeing is all about angles and opinions, that's it, that's the bottom line.
09:20And what's made you continue for so long, throughout the years, obviously most people would hang up their boots a few years ago, what's made you want to continue?
09:27What's made me continue? Well, I enjoy refereeing, I still enjoy it, I feel cold a lot now, obviously, but if I've got my hat on and my gloves, I'm OK, but I still enjoy it, and it's sort of something I've always expected to do on a Saturday afternoon,
09:57but at the moment, I'm doing Saturday afternoon, Sunday morning, not so keen on the Sunday morning, because that's at 10.30, and if you've had a pretty hard game on the Saturday, like I was on this Saturday, that's actually my first Premier League game for this season,
10:21but I go away, I'm away a lot, so I'm here till about the 9th of November, then I go away to Egypt, so I'm only a part-time referee, really, so I'm here and there, I'm back, and then I go, I'm back for Christmas, and then I go away for six weeks after Christmas,
10:46so I'm in and out, and hopefully get back when the weather gets a little bit better and a bit warmer.
10:53Yes, avoid all the winter games, yeah, absolutely.
10:57It's one of them, really.
10:59Yeah, that makes sense. And just finally, have you got any advice to the younger referees on the island? I know they're constantly battling with shortages of refs and stuff like that, have you got any advice to possibly a younger ref thinking about starting out?
11:12Well, if they're keen enough, have a go at it. Have a go at it. You know, they possibly may get more stick than I get. It's taken 50 years for me to think, well, yeah, it's not bad now.
11:30They've all come to accept me, although there's a lot of young players who don't even know me. But the point I would say to new referees is, a quip I made right from the word go, if you're keen enough to do it, don't be deterred by players continually having a go at you.
11:59Just, if you want to continue it, continue it and be thick-skinned enough to go through those two or three seasons where it's been a bit of a struggle. But a lot of people, the young people or whatever, they tend to say, oh no, I'm not going to take that stick on Saturday afternoon, I might as well go play golf.
12:27Yeah.
12:28Or goals or whatever. Or just go out shopping with the wife, you know, or the girlfriend. You know, everybody has a different opinion, but if they're really keen, they should weather the storm, if there is going to be a bit of a storm at the start of their refereeing career.
12:51And if they can get over that, and players say, well Freddie, we've got him again. And they say, well, you know. Because when I started refereeing, I was about 18 or 19, where in them days, it was very unacceptable, a young whippersnapper of 18, 19, 20, was refereeing.
13:17They were all in their 60s, 50s, 60s and nearly 70s, refereeing in them days. So, that's all I would really say on the matter.
13:31Yeah. And sorry, just finally Peter, while I've got you, what was the game like on Saturday between Laxey and Foxtail, your first Premier League game in a while?
13:40Yeah, it was great. I enjoyed it. I mean, the first five minutes. Foxtail got a goal, they thought it was offside, and I blew the whistle. I always blow the whistle to indicate it's a goal. And they thought I was blowing for offside, and I wasn't.
14:02And that confused Laxey a bit. But I thought Foxtail played so well. They outplayed Laxey in every department. And although Laxey hadn't got a bad side, Foxtail, I was amazed they played so well.
14:29And probably deserved the 5-0 win. And for Laxey, well, on another day, they went to Uni-Mers a week before and beat them 5-0, I think, or 6-0. So, it's one of them.
14:43But I was very impressed with the set-up, or with the strike force of Foxtail. And they really went to town. Nearly every attack they had, they scored a goal. Whereas Laxey, yeah, tried. But Foxtail had a very good goalkeeper, Andy Ball.
15:10So, yeah, most of the shots were directly at him rather than to one side of him. So, yeah, it was a frustrating afternoon for Laxey, I think. But, you know, that's what football's all about.