Frank Foster: Sheffield great-granddad, 89, believed to be the oldest referee in the world

Former semi-professional defender Frank Foster, of Ecclesfield, Sheffield, saw his playing days with Bamford come to an early finish after he sustained a knee ligament injury in the early 1950s but by 1980 he passed his FA referee exams with a 98 per cent mark and he is still going strong to this day.

Frank said: “I like to carry on incognito. When refereeing and when I am coming home obviously many times I am stopped and people say how old are you? And I say how old do you think I am? And they might say 67, and I just say ‘spot on’. I never think of my age as a number. You just have to live while you can.”

Frank also boasts coaching badges and has refereed and coached boys and men’s league teams as well as girls and ladies’ league teams including Steel City Girls, Brunsmeer, Rotherham’s Millmoor, Stockbridge Sports Steels and Sheffield Sixers.

He especially enjoyed refereeing the Johnny Quinn All Stars charity football matches – inspired by former Sheffield Wednesday player John Quinn – with matches featuring Sheffield stars like Sheffield United player Tony Currie.

Frank – who used to work in garage and car sales – told how he once had the honour of delivering a car for Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday football legend Derek Dooley.

He said: “They told me to take Derek Dooley’s car to Sheffield Wednesday’s football ground and he has promised to take you home afterwards. I didn’t think about it at first but Derek only had one leg so the pedals were reversed in the car so I had to be very careful about what I was doing. I was concentrating 100 per cent.”

Widower Frank – who has two sons, Neil and Keith, and two daughters, Gillian and Julie, and nine grandchildren, as well as great grandchildren – sadly lost his wife Margaret recently but he has continued refereeing and aims to keep doing so.

Son Keith said: “I think he is probably the oldest referee in the world now. I have seen historic reports when people have been in their late 70s and early 80s but he is 90 this year and he is coaching Sheffield Wednesday teams and he refereed three matches at the weekend. He is phenomenal.

“He has been doing this for nearly 45 years and he was doing it for women’s and girls’ football when there was not that much interest and he has been championing that for donkey’s years.”

Keith added: “Anybody who knows dad, knows he is fundamentally selfless and more bothered about other people than himself. He has always had an interest in sport and football. We are all very, very proud of him.

“The level of enthusiasm he has and passion is infectious. He is not just some bloke turning up and refereeing.”

Keith said generations of communities have benefited so much from Frank’s involvement as a referee and coach that he has developed an extended family where he is invited to weddings and functions.

Frank also worked as an armourer with the RAF during his National Service as a young man when it became apparent he was colour-blind but this did not get in his way of becoming one of the region’s most respected referees.

Keith said: “He can pull the heat out of a situation. He has a level of maturity and humour and reminds players we are here to have a good game – otherwise what is the point?”

During one exceptionally, acrimonious match, Frank – who is refereeing in matches this coming Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday – once had to red-card and send off so many players there were barely enough players left to continue.

But despite insisting that he ‘takes no prisoners’ and that includes on the pitch and from touchline spectators, he believes the best tactic is to command respect with calm and a gentle word or two.

Frank said: “I don’t take any prisoners even from the spectators if they are shouting. I will say, ‘no more’. One of the secrets to good refereeing is commanding respect but a gentle word in a player’s ear with some humour should be enough because if you raise your voice that can make the situation worse.”

As this humble stalwart continues keeps his cards close to his chest, son Keith has been liaising with the FA about how his dad might be nominated for a King’s Honour and a possible place in the Guinness Book of Records for his services to football as either the oldest or one of the country’s oldest and most respected referees.