Thomas Gee Delahunty (28 July 1935 – 14 October 2018) was a British-born New Zealand

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

(soccer) referee, who was a FIFA referee from 1968–1984.

Early life

Delahunty was born on 28 July 1935 in

Withington Withington is a suburb of Manchester, England. Historically part of Lancashire, it lies from Manchester city centre, south of Fallowfield, north-east of Didsbury and east of Chorlton-cum-Hardy. Withington had a population at the 2011 ce ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, England. He initially played football (soccer) as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

, but stopped after dislocating his fingers aged 14. At the age of 20, Delahunty moved to New Zealand, and he became a naturalised New Zealand citizen in 1981.

Career

Delahunty decided to take up refereeing aged 18. He worked for two years in Manchester, and continued after moving to New Zealand. From 1968 until 1984, Delahunty was a FIFA international referee. In total, he refereed 19 international matches, including a number of New Zealand home internationals during the 1970s. From 1970, Delahunty worked as a referee for the newly formed

New Zealand National Soccer League The New Zealand National League is the name given to the current New Zealand top association football, football competition. Originally set up as the New Zealand National Soccer League there has been many versions of the competition as well as ma ...

, and also refereed two

Chatham Cup The Chatham Cup is New Zealand's premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout tournament in men's association football. It is held annually, with the final contested in September. The current champions of the Chatham Cup are Wellington Olymp ...

finals. Delahunty retired from refereeing in 1984. In 1999, Delahunty was inducted into the New Zealand Soccer Hall of Fame.

Death

Delahunty died in a

nursing home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of older people, senior citizens, or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as care homes, skilled nursing facilities (SNF), or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms ...

Waikanae Waikanae (, ) is a town on the Kāpiti Coast, north of the Wellington, New Zealand. The name is a Māori language, Māori word meaning "waters" (''wai'') "of the flathead grey mullet, grey mullet". The area surrounding the town is notable fo ...

on 14 October 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delahunty, Tom 1935 births 2018 deaths People from Withington British emigrants to New Zealand British football referees New Zealand association football referees Naturalised citizens of New Zealand Sportspeople from Manchester