Why Wirral soldier Trevor Barrow makes an ideal Sunday league referee

Jan 7 2009 by Sue McCann, Birkenhead News

A WIRRAL referee stands for no messing when he oversees Sunday football league matches – but you would expect no less from a serving soldier.

Trevor Barrow was an infantry soldier for 29 years in the British Army, and is now an Army careers adviser in Wirral.

The 46-year-old warrant officer said: “The players are always surprised when they find out I am a serving soldier.

“When they do find out, they are actually quite complimentary about it, but I still obviously get the mickey taken out of me something rotten.”

Married with four children, aged 13 to 23, Trevor joined the army straight from school, enlisting with the King’s Own Royal Border Regiment.

He has served all over the world, including in Germany, Cyprus, Northern Ireland, Brunei, Bosnia and Canada.

Rugby was his primary sporting passion, but he also enjoyed a game of football, describing himself as being of “kick and rush” standard in his playing days.

He said: “I was 40 and getting a bit bored, wondering what I should do when I stopped playing competitive sport.

“I was chatting with a friend and he said ‘become a football referee’. That’s how it happened. I was very critical of referees back then – but I now realise all that was completely unjustified. It is not easy to be a football referee.”

Trevor enrolled on a refereeing lessons organised by the army, completing an intensive course in about a week, which would normally take several months in Civvy Street.