Alfred Grey (born 2 February 1935) is an English former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...

in the English

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

and at

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

level. During his time on the List he was based in

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth ( ), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town which gives its name to the wider Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. Its fishing industry, m ...

, Norfolk.

Career

Grey qualified as a referee in April 1960. He progressed via The Football Combination and became a Football League linesman in 1968. Three years later he became a supplementary referee and in 1972 he progressed to the full List. His first full season (

1972–73 Year 197 ( CXCVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Magius and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 950 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 197 for this y ...

) was coincidentally the last one for another Great Yarmouth referee who achieved honours – Norman Burtenshaw. In 1972, he made his first appearance at Wembley as a Linesman in the FA Amateur Cup Final between Enfield and Hendon. His next appearance at Wembley was as a senior linesman to Clive Thomas in the 1976 FA Cup Final between

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

and

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

, which the Saints won 1–0 through a goal by

Bobby Stokes Robert William Thomas Stokes (30 January 1951 – 30 May 1995) was an English footballer, best known for scoring the winning goal in the 83rd minute of the FA Cup Final for Southampton against Manchester United in 1976. Born in Portsmouth, Sto ...

. One year later he was appointed to the FIFA List. In 1978, he made yet another appearance at Wembley this time as the referee for the FA Challenge Trophy Final between Altrincham and Leatherhead. Thereafter Grey was a regular figure in top division and other key games. He was awarded the

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official attendance of 89,472 ...

between Manchester United and

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

at the end of his final season ( 1982–83). He had refereed the

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

club earlier in the competition at

Anfield Anfield is a Association football, football stadium in the area of Anfield (suburb), Anfield, Liverpool, England, which has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since its formation in 1892. The stadium has a seating capacity of 61,276, making it the ...

when they pulled off a shock victory in a fifth round tie,

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

also missing a penalty. For the third time in succession the Final went to a replay. Brighton, who had been relegated, came remarkably close to an upset against Manchester United. The game ended 2-2 after extra-time but Gordon Smith of Brighton famously missed a great chance in the final minute of normal time that might have won the game. This was Grey's sixth appearance at Wembley The replay was Grey's final domestic match. United won this game easily 4–0, the last goal an

Arnold Mühren Arnold Johannes Hyacinthus Mühren (born 2 June 1951) is a Dutch football manager and former midfielder. His older brother Gerrie, also a midfielder, won three European Cup titles with Ajax in the early 1970s. Mühren is among the few players t ...

penalty. He had one more game at international level in June 1983 - a friendly in

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

between

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, which was won by the visitors by 2–1.Swiss international matches
, including the match between Switzerland and Brazil, June 1983: ''RSSSF'' website. After an active career which lasted 23 years Grey went on to become a referee assessor on the Football League. In 1990, he was appointed as Delegate on the Premier League and in 1996 a UEFA Delegate. He retired from UEFA on 31 July 2004. His total length of service was 44 years and 4 months. Grey is now actively involved with Gorleston Football Club (local town team in The Premier Division of the Eastern Counties League) as an Honorary Vice President.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grey, Alf 1935 births Living people English football referees English Football League referees Sportspeople from Great Yarmouth

Career

References

Further reading

External links