CMAL VICE PRESIDENT & LEAGUE STALWART

A lifelong Derbyshire lad, John was born and schooled in Derby. As a 16 year old John played in goal for St Helens United in a local Derby league before his family moved to Matlock in 1959. From the age of 11 John had been a member of the St Johns Ambulance Brigade Cadets and on moving to Matock he quickly joined the local St Johns Adult Division. His duties with St Johns brought him into contact with Matock Town FC. and it wasn't long before he found himself assisting the Reserve Te am Trainer. His experience with the reserves led to him moving up to assist the 1s* Team Trainer, and in 1962 he was appointed 1s Team Trainer. John was also invited to join the Matlock Town Committee where he served as Meeting Minutes Secretary from 1963 to 1965.

In March 1965 John joined the Derbyshire Constabulary where his work commitments meant that he was unable to continue his role at Matlock Town. However, his absence from football was short lived when, after only five months in the job, he was co-opted onto the Police Football Committee. It wasn't long before John's organisational skills came to the fore, and he was instrumental in helping to organise a police team that played in the Derby Wednesday League and later in the Nottingham Thursday League. During his time with Derbyshire Police FC, John enjoyed a number of roles including Club Secretary, Team Manager and club linesman (in addition to playing when the team was short!). It was during this period that John had his first taste of match officiating when he acted as volunteer referee for one the teams league matches.

Bitten by the refereeing bug, in 1970 John qualified as a Football Referee. He officiated in all the local leagues, including the Derby Football Combination, Derby Senior League, South Derbyshire Senior League, Derby Sunday League and the Sunday Premier League. During this period, he was also selected to officiate in numerous finals. In 2008, after 38 years of dedicated refereeing service, John finally hung up his boots.

His footballing career, however, was far from over. The same year he was approached to join the Central Midlands Football League Management Committee taking over the role of Minutes Secretary. John's knowledge and experience is vast and during his time with the league he has held a number of administration roles, including a spell as League Chairman. In 2022, in recognition of his outstanding service and contribution he was made a Vice President of the Central Midlands Football League. Since the merger of the CMFL and the MRA John has held the position of leader of the Central Midlands Alliance League Ground Grading & Vetting Committee and the Rules Sub Committee.

This profile would not be complete without mentioning, in addition to his league duties, John's direct involvement with club football. In 2010 he was invited to join the Belper United FC Club Committee. In 2016 he became Match day Secretary before taking over the role of Club Secretary in 2018, a position he held until stepping down at the end of the 2022/23 season. During this time, he saw the club steadily progress from the MRA to the CMFL Premier Division before gaining promotion to the East Midlands Regional League (Step 6) and then the United Counties League (Step 6 and Step 5. To this day, John remains actively involved with the CMAL, sharing his knowledge, and giving help and guidance to club representatives and committee colleagues His contribution to local football, both on and off the football field, has been immense and he is admired and respected by all of who know him.