Fundraising football referee gets national award

Steve Bradford has been named England Football's Match Official of the Year

A football referee who has raised "enormous sums for good causes" has been named Match Official of the Year.

Sheffield and Hallamshire County FA (SHCFA) said Steve Bradford, from Rotherham, had donated every penny from his match fees in his 25 years of refereeing to local charities and groups.

Mr Bradford, who has taken charge of more than 6,000 fixtures, was presented with his award from England Football at last weekend's Community Shield final at Wembley Stadium.

He said the national recognition had left him "absolutely bursting with pride".

Mr Bradford was introduced to the crowd at half time during Saturday's Community Shield final between Manchester City and Manchester United

An SHCFA spokesperson said Mr Bradford had also helped fund courses for aspiring referees at Rotherham grassroots club Greasbrough Youth FC.

“It just fills me with pride that for all these years I thought I was just refereeing," said Mr Bradford.

"It’s beginning to dawn on me that I’ve touched people’s lives in a way I didn’t even realise."

Mr Bradford's foray into refereeing was a typical grassroots tale.

“I was originally blagged into refereeing a game because there was no referee," he said.

"At the time I just loved playing and watching grassroots football. I could never have seen me refereeing in a million years, but here we are."

He was put forward for the national award after an independent judging panel chose him as the SHCFA Match Official of the Year.

Earlier this year he also picked up the Outstanding Contribution to Refereeing award at the FA’s Referee Recognition Awards for his services to the Sheffield and Hallamshire region as a referee.

As part of his latest recognition, Mr Bradford met the Community Shield final's match officials ahead of kick-off before being introduced to the 78,000-strong crowd at half time.

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