Colin Gardner ( – 3 July 2010) was an English

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 ...

official and philanthropist.

Career

Gardner began his career as a referee in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

. He then became chairman of a number of non-league teams, including

Minehead Minehead is a coastal town and civil parish in Somerset, England. It lies on the south bank of the Bristol Channel, north-west of the county town of Taunton, from the boundary with the county of Devon and close to the Exmoor National Park. T ...

, Gloucester City and

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. Formed in October 188 ...

Recognition

Gardner was awarded a MBE in 2006 for his charity work.

Death

Gardner died of a brain tumour on 3 July 2010, at the age of 69, at his home in

Minchinhampton Minchinhampton is a Cotswold Hills, Cotswolds market town and a civil parish in the Stroud District of Gloucestershire, South West England. The town is located on a hilltop, south-east of Stroud. The common offers wide views over the Severn Est ...

References

1940s births 2010 deaths English football referees English football chairmen and investors Members of the Order of the British Empire Deaths from brain cancer in England Neurological disease deaths in England English Football League referees 20th-century English businesspeople {{England-footy-bio-stub