A Cumbrian referee has been recognised for 50 years of service by the Cumberland FA.
David Bell, of Dalston, first started officiating for the county FA during the 1975/76 season.
In the 50 years since, he has also held other roles including referee mentor, assessor, and referee appointments officer.
He also had a brief spell as a committee member for the Cumberland FA.
David said he reached the old Class 3 level and achieved Contributory League Referee status (now Level 4) but stepped down from that in 2000 aged 50.
He said he had fond memories of travelling to places like Esh Winning and Guisborough while on the Northern League.
Prior to this period, he refereed the Sunday County Cup Final and U18 County Cup Final and had two assistant referee appointments on the Cumberland Cup Final.
He recalls performing well one season and as a result got a phone call to say he was appointed as assistant referee on a Northern League Cup Final.
Around 1990 he also remembers refereeing a pre-season friendly between Carlisle United v St Johnstone at Brunton Park.
Away from refereeing David had a five-year spell as club secretary at Northbank when they had a successful team that won the Cumberland Cup twice.
More recently David was a matchday steward at Carlisle United.
Cumberland FA referee development officer Scott Taylor said: Celebrating milestones and recognising people’s achievements is really important to us at the Cumberland FA.
“We have a great number of dedicated and experienced referees among our workforce.
“David notified me about his 50-year long service and wanted to share his accomplishments like I did recently having achieved 25 years’ service myself as a referee.
“Hopefully others will now read this article and share their stories too.
“Many of our registered referees have been active for a very long time, and we would like to celebrate those who have reached 25 years or more service.”
