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Maurice Fussey (and other old time refs)

edited September 2019 in Other Football and Sports
I'm doing a little project and it would be useful for me to know what former referee Maurice Fussey looked like. I know it's a long shot but I don't suppose anyone has a picture of him?  For those that don't know, he was the ref when Keith Peacock made his ground breaking substitution.

I've looked on the internet but this is the best image I've found. I did find some interesting comments about the marvellously named man though, he was apparently "famous for his furious sprints to the scene of dramatic incidents". One Sunderland fan elaborates with a pleasing locomotive based simile, "He was a real character was Maurice. He strolled about the pitch until a decision had to be made and then sprinted to the scene of the misdemeanour with his knees whirring like the driving wheels of a Gresley A4 and stood indicating in the direction of the free kick like a Pointer dog. Oh how the crowd cheered…….". Someone else tells us that he had, long knobbly legs. Someone in Ireland tells us that he officiated over there with, a "Big mop of blond hair and big moustache. He was great fun and always got a great reception from the crowd", this may have been when he was younger though. My favourite description is, "authority in a tizzy". Apparently he broke two vertebrates in his neck whilst removing his luggage from a train at Newcastle station forcing him to follow Magpies v Liverpool from the stands rather than on the pitch. Perhaps Liverpool would have been pleased though, on another occasion an enraged Bill Shankly commented that referees "know the laws but they don't know the game" after a Fussey decision contributed to his Liverpool side losing at Southampton. Elsewhere, Charlton Life's own @GlassHalfFull states that the "tall schoolmasterly figure was known for a certain eccentricity".  

Any help appreciated. Cheers.
 

Comments

  • Pic of him on page 37 of the new VOTV at the Keith Peacock match.

    The original was on the front of Soccer Star magazine.
  • Four minutes!  Congratulations @mistrollingin that's probably a CL record for a difficult question being answered succinctly, accurately and with reference.  
  • That is brilliant. What a stroke of serendipity - Mrs Stig would call that spooky. Thank you so much for posting @mistrollingin
  • Thanks Stig, just had a quick look on ebay where there is a copy of that particular Soccer Star for £3.99 (Buy It Now price.

    Although I could probably find my copy for you if that helps.
  • Thanks, but I reckon the pic in VoTV will do for me. Might be an interesting one for the museum though, if they haven't got it.  
  • If ever a name matched a job.....
  • edited September 2019
    I can't believe there was a ref called fussey.
    Next, you'll be telling me he lived in Great Bookham (like another ref I can't recall).

  • Told you!!

    Certainly had his own style but no match for the inimitable Roger Kirkpatrick.

    Great Bookham ref was Ray Lewis.


  • It's a little alarming to find quoted something written, it transpires, six years ago. Search Fussey on here and you will find a remarkable discussion, @mistrollingin participating then as well. 

  • Stig said:
    One Sunderland fan elaborates with a pleasing locomotive based simile, "... his knees whirring like the driving wheels of a Gresley A4 ". 
     
    That fan should be made an honorary Addick.
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  • Stig said:
    One Sunderland fan elaborates with a pleasing locomotive based simile, "... his knees whirring like the driving wheels of a Gresley A4 ". 
     
    That fan should be made an honorary Addick.

    If you refer to the above-mentioned discussion you will find a similar comment by @Viewfinder in respect of Roger Kirkpatrick.

  • Stig - a vignette of Maurice Fussey (Retford) in this link below.  It's a fascinating site, including descriptions of Roger Kirkpatrick (Market Harborough) running backwards in an arc over the pitch.  Our own GlassHalfFull (Woolwich) is the oracle on refs of that particular era.  His personal favourite was the eccentric John Osborne (Ipswich) - who resembled Private Godfrey! 

    https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/ratetheref/i-spy-old-refs-t14233.html

  • Thanks Viewfinder, that's a brilliant thread.  I have shamelessly copied some of the more amusing comments about other referees:

    • Gerard (JGD) Lewis (Port Talbot).....lacking hair
    • Alf Buksh ( the whistling postman from Dollis Hill )
    • Clive Thomas (Treorchy and then Porthcawl).... known as Clive the Book but improved greatly towards the end of his career. Also famous for ending his international career by blowing for time in a World Cup match just inches before the ball entered the net
    • David Phillips (hairless from Barnsley - not the Omar Shariff lookalike)
    • Gary Aplin (Kendal) - never looked fit
    • John Watson (Seaton Sluice) - always looked fit
    • I seem to recall Lester Shapter, who I thought was an excellent referee, caused something of a cotroversy by being invalided out of the police due to some injury whilst still being able to carry on as a League referee. 
    • Ron Bridges (Deeside) - great side-burns
    • Ray Robinson ( Norwich ,with a strange pudding bowl haircut )
    • has anyone mentioned Dennis Brazier, a Groucho Marx lookalike from Northampton
    • Mr. Moles - looked like he should have been in Baywatch
    • Mr.Furnadez - the most portly chap you ever did see 
    • David Axcell (Southend) - complete with wristband
    • Didn't Axcell have stuff written on his red and yellow cards. Yellow i was told said - Be warned dont do it again! and the red was I told you once now F&*% off. Dont know how true this is but heard it from a good friend at Gillingham
    • Brian Daniels (Brentwood) - Very tall and very thin who had an unfortunate facial tic
    • Gwyn Owen (Anglesey) - One of the shortest referees I can recall
    • Joe Timmons is the only referee (as far as we know) to have refereed in the English and Scottish Football Leagues.
    • Keith Butcher was a ref for a few years in the 1970s, again from Kendal where he was a publican. He once failed to turn up at a game (think it may have beEn Darlington, just didnt realise he was supposed to be there!) and it is claimed he was colourblind, so he used markers on his cards to distinguish red from yellow!
    • Denis Howell (Birmingham) Became an MP, Minister of Sport, Minister of Drought (and yes, the day after his appointment.......it rained!)
    • Dennis Hedges ( from Oxford...no game was so dire that it couldn't be made a lot worse by Den Hedges flapping around like a demented chicken, his arms flailing all over the place, giving bizarre decision after bizarre decision )
    • Vernon Batty (Cheshire) Recalled just for his name really but I believe he was a geography teacher at Helsby grammar school
    • Gilbert Napthine. He refereed on all 92 grounds and was the only person to do so, until the league engineered it for Paul Danson to achieve the feat.
    • Norman Burtenshaw (Gt Yarmouth).....Yet another FIFA ref - seemed to be involved in a fair amount of controversial incidents during his career including being attacked and knocked out by a spectator at Millwall

  • I remember that Clive Thomas decision in 78 and feeling embarrassed that it had to be a British ref making it. 

    Interesting video here of him reviewing his decision many years later.  Seems like he may have been right to the letter of the law, but jeez ...

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/44500178


  • Told you!!

    Certainly had his own style but no match for the inimitable Roger Kirkpatrick.

    Great Bookham ref was Ray Lewis.


    Ah, Roger Kirkpatrick. Remember a game when big Dave Shipperley upset dear Roger. His bald head gleaming in the sun he sprinted over to our Dave and gave him a right bollocking. Considering Ship stood about three feet taller than Mr K (who must have had a crick in his neck before he finished with the hapless giant). Having firmly put Ship in his place we were in stiches as Mr K turned away with a huge grin on his face! Now that's what you call a referee.

  • A Kirkpatrick classic, albeit that the great man is not so dynamic as usual.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VnEjaw7uNs

  • Was it Gurnham Singh that sent off the Killer at Fulham ?

    i don’t recall Ray Lewis being the Great Bookham ref - I thought it was someone else, but I can’t recall. 
  • Was it Gurnham Singh that sent off the Killer at Fulham ?

    i don’t recall Ray Lewis being the Great Bookham ref - I thought it was someone else, but I can’t recall. 
    Yes, Ray Lewis was from Great Bookham.

    There was a short-lived fad in the late 1980s when refs would give a penalty for the slightest contact.  In 1989, Palace v Brighton (Curbs was playing), Kelvin Morton (Bury St Edmunds) awarded five pens in less than 30 minutes.
  • dread to think of the abuse this one time referee would get if were he about today ((:>)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segar_Bastard
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